When my company laptop stopped working six months ago, I reported the issue right away and asked IT for a replacement. I followed up several times after that, but nothing was ever fixed. After a while, my manager breezily told me to use my personal laptop for work, saying “everyone does it” and making it sound like I was overreacting by even asking questions.
I didn’t feel okay about that. My personal laptop has private documents, family photos, and sensitive information on it, and I knew the company had rules about data security and where work files were supposed to be kept. When I brought that up, my manager laughed and said I should be thankful I even had a job.
Instead of getting into a back-and-forth, I kept records of everything. I saved my IT tickets, the ignored emails, and the messages where my manager told me to keep company files on my own device. To protect myself, I sent all of it to HR in case anything came up later.
HR responded right away. They spoke to my manager the same day, and her entire attitude changed almost instantly. It turned out the company cared a lot more about equipment rules, employee protections, and data security than she did. A company laptop is finally being arranged, and while things are a little awkward now, I feel like I set a fair boundary and stood up for myself.