Freebies Confiscated by employer

[JQ]

Bit of an odd one. A company who provides data analysis software (and data) to my employer which numerous members of staff utilise many times a day are launching a new piece of software which is only accessible via a tablet PC. My employer pays this company a six figure sum for this software as a subsciption. To launch the new product and to get people using it the software company invited the highest users of the service from several firms to attend a 2hr presentation and at the end we were given a tablet PC with a free copy of the software installed which we're free to use going forward. The Tablet was a gift and came with no strings attached.

Employer is now demanding all tablets are returned to them and they will return them to the software company.

Are they within their rights?

[SpeckledJim]

Of course they are.

Were they giving these tablets to members of the public wandering in the street? No - they gave them to employees as part of their jobs. They belong to the company.

[Dan_1981]

You shouldn't have told anyone, kept it quiet.



That always ends well......

[randlemarcus]

I take it accessing the data is part of your job description? Guess you won't be doing that then.

[JQ]

randlemarcus said:

I take it accessing the data is part of your job description? Guess you won't be doing that then.

We can still access the data from our desktop PC's, the new software enabled us to use it on the move.

[geeks]

Who gave you the tablet? Your employer or the software company?

If it was your employer then yes they are within their rights.
If it was the software company then your employer has no right to ask for them back!

[JQ]

SpeckledJim said:

Of course they are.

Were they giving these tablets to members of the public wandering in the street? No - they gave them to employees as part of their jobs. They belong to the company.

What's the legal basis for that? The item was given to me with no strings attached, no subscription needs to be paid by my employer for the 6 months of the free use, after that if I don't take up the subscrption the tablet is mine to keep.

I've no doubt I'll hand it back, it's not worth the grief, but what I want to know is if they are legally entitled to take it from me.

I work in an industry where there is lots of corporate entertainment, plenty of lunches, bottles of wine as presents, ipods for attanding launches, personal incentives - a colleague got £5,000 of vouchers a few years ago for doing a deal off a client. This is the first time any employer I've worked for has aksed for such items to be returned.

[southendpier]

Bribes

[JQ]

geeks said:

Who gave you the tablet? Your employer or the software company?

If it was your employer then yes they are within their rights.
If it was the software company then your employer has no right to ask for them back!

It was the software company with a clear statement that there was no requirement for us to take up a paying subscription - they just wanted to demonstrate to us what it could do in a real world environment, which is impossible in a presentation.

[edc]

geeks said:

Who gave you the tablet? Your employer or the software company?

If it was your employer then yes they are within their rights.
If it was the software company then your employer has no right to ask for them back!

And if you we're the CIO and they have you £10000 to 'spend' on IT equipment would you keep it?

There is a reason why companies have policies on business gifts. Some say none at all and others draw a sensible line somewhere.

[JQ]

southendpier said:

Bribes

What are they bribing me to do?

[SpeckledJim]

JQ said:

SpeckledJim said:

Of course they are.

Were they giving these tablets to members of the public wandering in the street? No - they gave them to employees as part of their jobs. They belong to the company.

What's the legal basis for that? The item was given to me with no strings attached, no subscription needs to be paid by my employer for the 6 months of the free use, after that if I don't take up the subscrption the tablet is mine to keep.

I've no doubt I'll hand it back, it's not worth the grief, but what I want to know is if they are legally entitled to take it from me.

I work in an industry where there is lots of corporate entertainment, plenty of lunches, bottles of wine as presents, ipods for attanding launches, personal incentives - a colleague got £5,000 of vouchers a few years ago for doing a deal off a client. This is the first time any employer I've worked for has aksed for such items to be returned.

It was in the course of your employment. Everything that you're given in the course of your job belongs to your employer - it's up to them if they let you keep it. (and then make sure you're taxed on it. If you'd developed a killer idea on the company's time, that would belong to them too.

Not to mention that the company who gave you the gifts had just taken a large cheque from your employer. There's a good chance a grown-up in your organisation has said

"hold on - what a fking waste of money. This isn't what we're paying you for. Take your sodding tablets back or refund me their cost, you silly tts."

[robsa]

A friend of mine was given a watch once by the Sultan of Bahrain, as a thank-you to his father who worked for Amex at the time. It wasn't a Patek or anything, just a boys commando-style Timex.

Amex flipped out when his father let them know about the gesture and forced him to return it! I guess that in the same way the company can make you return it, whether that is ethical or even legal I wouldn't know.

[JQ]

edc said:

geeks said:

Who gave you the tablet? Your employer or the software company?

If it was your employer then yes they are within their rights.
If it was the software company then your employer has no right to ask for them back!

And if you we're the CIO and they have you £10000 to 'spend' on IT equipment would you keep it?

There is a reason why companies have policies on business gifts. Some say none at all and others draw a sensible line somewhere.

And this is a company where more expensive gifts have been both given and received on numerous occassions. The people receiving the tablets have zero influence over the buying decision, which the software company are well aware of.

[SpeckledJim]

JQ said:

southendpier said:

Bribes

What are they bribing me to do?

You want to keep the tablet, because it's a nice personal possession. You are grateful to the supplier for giving it to you. Your allegiance is now not solely to the company who pays your wages, but also to a company on the other side of the negotiating table.

Yes, it's only a small thing, but it's not entirely straight, is it?

[Eric Mc]

Seems a perfect example of what one should not do under the 2010 Bribery Act.

[JQ]

SpeckledJim said:

JQ said:

southendpier said:

Bribes

What are they bribing me to do?

You want to keep the tablet, because it's a nice personal possession. You are grateful to the supplier for giving it to you. Your allegiance is now not solely to the company who pays your wages, but also to a company on the other side of the negotiating table.

Yes, it's only a small thing, but it's not entirely straight, is it?

I think you're miss-understanding. The software company provide data to my industry, there's no negotiating table. They have no other part in my insutry other than the supply of 3rd party data. I couldn't even work for them nor do they have any impact on what I do or my clients. If I worked for any other company in my industry I would use exactly the same software company for that data, as they are the industry standard.

My employer has paid nothing towards the cost of the tablets, so there's no cheque to be returned. The tablets are purely marketing to get end users on board. Those end users will then have zero influence on the buying decision as we all work for global firms with large procurement teams who won't be swayed by a few tablets, which the software company are fully aware.

[SpeckledJim]

JQ said:

edc said:

geeks said:

Who gave you the tablet? Your employer or the software company?

If it was your employer then yes they are within their rights.
If it was the software company then your employer has no right to ask for them back!

And if you we're the CIO and they have you £10000 to 'spend' on IT equipment would you keep it?

There is a reason why companies have policies on business gifts. Some say none at all and others draw a sensible line somewhere.

And this is a company where more expensive gifts have been both given and received on numerous occassions. The people receiving the tablets have zero influence over the buying decision, which the software company are well aware of.

Well, what does your company handbook say, and what tax have you paid previously on other expensive gifts?

Your point about having no influence over the purchasing decision is nonsense. You say yourself your group is the biggest user of the system. So you wouldn't ever be consulted for your thoughts by the person who writes the cheque?

You mean this is just charity on the part of the supplier? Come on...

[randlemarcus]

It's just as likely that you personally have managed to annoy someone in the office enough by showing off your shinies, and someone in your management chain has decreed the devices need to go home.

[SpeckledJim]

JQ said:

SpeckledJim said:

JQ said:

southendpier said:

Bribes

What are they bribing me to do?

You want to keep the tablet, because it's a nice personal possession. You are grateful to the supplier for giving it to you. Your allegiance is now not solely to the company who pays your wages, but also to a company on the other side of the negotiating table.

Yes, it's only a small thing, but it's not entirely straight, is it?

I think you're miss-understanding. The software company provide data to my industry, there's no negotiating table. They have no other part in my insutry other than the supply of 3rd party data. I couldn't even work for them nor do they have any impact on what I do or my clients. If I worked for any other company in my industry I would use exactly the same software company for that data, as they are the industry standard.

My employer has paid nothing towards the cost of the tablets, so there's no cheque to be returned. The tablets are purely marketing to get end users on board. Those end users will then have zero influence on the buying decision as we all work for global firms with large procurement teams who won't be swayed by a few tablets, which the software company are fully aware.

Pop that in an email to your purchasing and HR Directors then. See what they think...

You said your company pays this other company six figures a year - and you say there's no negotiating table?