Mandatory work-from-home (WFH) policies hit any company hard- but especially quickly-growing companies with a large number of new hires waiting to be on-boarded. Because traditional on-boarding practices occur in-person, many companies have no choice but to simply defer on-boarding until the quarantine is over.
However, WFH policies do not need to freeze employee onboarding. Using unified endpoint management software like 42Gears’ SureMDM, employers can allow new hires to start work on their personal laptops, without sacrificing security. This “BYOL” (bring-your-own-laptop) system can be initiated without any in-person contact, making it ideal for WFH scenarios.
Using unified endpoint management software like 42Gears’ SureMDM, employers can allow new hires to start work on their personal laptops, without sacrificing security.
In fact, 42Gears has already started onboarding new hires remotely using SureMDM. When enabling employees to work on their own devices, 42Gears prioritises two precautions to ensure the safety of business data. You can follow the same practice, in case you are in a situation similar to 42Gears.
For 42Gears, putting the bring-your-own laptop policy in place begins by integrating employees’ Windows and macOS laptops into SureMDM. SureMDM can quickly and easily enroll laptops across a range of operating systems, without any in-person contact required.
SureMDM can quickly and easily enroll laptops across a range of operating systems, without any in-person contact required.
Once enrolled, employers can apply a number of policies to these Windows and macOS devices. As 42Gears enrolls its new employees’ devices into SureMDM, it focuses on two policies, specifically. If you are planning to enroll employees at this time (or in any WFH scenario), you should focus on these two as well.
Password protection
The value of a complex password for protecting corporate data cannot be overstated. Short, simple, or common passwords will not deter laptop thieves, but long and unusual ones have a better chance of doing so.
Especially in our personal lives, it’s easy to be complacent regarding personal passwords- reusing passwords, or using ones that are easy to type. This is part of the reason why allowing employees to work from unmanaged laptops can be a liability.
Using SureMDM, 42Gears has remotely mandated that each device used by BYOL employees is associated with a complex and unique password. Each password must fill rigorous criteria for length and the variety of characters involved; this way, any subjectivity or uncertainty regarding what constitutes “complex and unique” is removed.
Using SureMDM, 42Gears has remotely mandated that each device used by BYOL employees is associated with a complex and unique password.
Keep Corporate Data Safe with Containerisation
If the new employee needs access to a business application, it is important to ensure that the business data is kept separate from personal user data. If your applications are browser-based (such as GSuite or Microsoft 365), you can place the browser into a “container” that completely isolates corporate and personal data.
Moreover, you can apply Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies to ensure that sensitive data does not leave the organisation limits. For example, you can block copy-pasting between business and personal content.
You can apply Data Loss Prevention (DLP) policies using SureMDM to ensure that sensitive data does not leave the organisation limits.
If an employer has reason to believe that an employee is not using a device responsibly, or an employee loses a device, the employer can remotely wipe all data in the business container at any time. This way, the employee’s personal data and activities are not compromised, and neither are the company’s.
Conclusion
You might find SureMDM valuable for its BYOD policies during this period of extended WFH- not just for new employees, but for your existing staff as well. SureMDM can easily register and enforce BYOD policies on Apple, Android, and Windows devices on all sorts of operating systems, including iOS, iPadOS, Android, and MacOS.
After all, malicious actors don’t care whether a compromised device belongs to a veteran employee or a new one. By bringing your employees’ full fleet of devices into SureMDM, you can keep business data safe, no matter where your employees are working during mandatory WFH.
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