IT Jobs
One in ten portables downed by 'laptop rage'
Followed by food spills.
By Paul Boutin, The Industry Standard
Published: 08:49 GMT, 20 April 09
A significant portion of damage to laptops is caused by the "anger or frustration" that employees take out on them, a study has found.
That is one of the findings of a new study entitled "Business Risk of a Lost Laptop." It was published last Wednesday by the Ponemon Institute and is funded by Dell, which is using the study to tout its data encryption and recovery solutions.
The report, described by Ponemon as a web-based survey of 3,100 IT and security practitioners located in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Mexico and Brazil, found that laptop-smashing employees were cited as the leading cause of damage by one in three respondents in Mexico and Brazil.
The Brits are more reserved: Only 6 percent of UK respondents blamed angry staff. Instead, travel-related damage caused by not taking proper care of the laptop leads among the British, with just over half of UK respondents claiming it was the most common cause of damage.
Americans rate laptop rage and mishandling on the road fairly low - 13 percent and 25 percent, respectively. Instead, 34 percent of American IT pros told Ponemon that "spilling food or liquids on the laptop" is the top cause of damage. But before you roll your eyes at ugly Americans, take note: An even higher 36 percent voted food spills the top problem among the French.
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Add your commentComments
KC | Published: 16:27 GMT, 21 April 2009
and who the he!! in their right mind actually admits that they got mad and smashed the company laptop?!!?!?! I don't care if it's a double-blind questionnaire given during a massive rock-concert!
Bill | Published: 15:09 GMT, 21 April 2009
One thing nice about the old big monitors is that if you punch them when the response time is slow or something else goes wrong then you're not likely to do costly damage (unless its to your hand.
AJ Rankin | Published: 14:35 GMT, 21 April 2009
I own my own laptop (VISTA SUX) and regularly take it out for floggings. The Ubuntu distro runs quite well despite my best efforts to ruin the sound interface. My name is Drew, and I suffer from laptop rage. I wonder if there is a federally funded support group?
Mr. Reeee | Published: 14:16 GMT, 21 April 2009
So, corporate proles vent their mixture of rage, frustration and powerlessness on the crappy Dell boxes issued by their keepers. Big surprise. It makes one wonder how many of these laptops are truly "lost"?
Stuart | Published: 14:09 GMT, 21 April 2009
What did people smash in the 80's or before? Their typewriters? The wall? Each other? Maybe the solution is to have laptops go into a "defensive posture" when things go awry. Maybe electrify the case? Or maybe it should play calming music or ocean sounds while recovering from a crash.
bucklez | Published: 10:55 GMT, 21 April 2009
I bet the americans lick up the spills though, while french probably just ask for another batch of fresh frogs legs
the point is... | Published: 09:34 GMT, 21 April 2009
Thisis not really meant to be an acadecistudy pointed at laptop rage... I think it's more about "the lost laptop" funnily enough the accuracy of this ancilary information is always going to be dubious. By quite funny... I mean who would have guess that the americans and the french would spill so much food and drink :)
yea so... | Published: 07:26 GMT, 21 April 2009
there are too many variables here... first, they can't all be the same, and there doesn't even really have to be a reason for it. Second, you relying on the perceptions of people giving the answers which could have as much to do with culture as with what actually happened. This would need to be a massive and well thought out study to be of any meaning... and even then... whats the point?
JoJo | Published: 06:50 GMT, 21 April 2009
What's the bet that laptop rage was 0% for those who bought their own?
Andrew | Published: 06:34 GMT, 21 April 2009
What's the bet that the laptop rage was disproportionately directed at Windows laptops?