Unfortunately economic slowdowns can lead to downsizing, forced days off without pay, or lay offs.
This can be dangerous in the world of Information Technology [IT] where disgruntled employees may retaliate against their (former) employers.
Be cautious in these situations where the corporate decision has been to cut back in this area as typically these individuals have access to files and corporate information.
Ensure you have the right policies in place, safeguards, security measures, offsite backups, documentation, and knowledge to help protect the company from any issues. Unfortunately not all problems present themselves and sometimes they don’t surface for months down the road.
Auditing your companies IT infrastructure should be done on a regular basis, worst case once a year. This should be expected and not a surprise. It can help discover potential problems before they manifest themselves later on.
Many surveys have been conducted on fraud and it is generally concluded that the majority of fraud found within companies is committed from within.
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Note that the above is regarding any employees while below is IT specifically…
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IT to generate 5.8 million new jobs by 2013: IDC
“IDC predicts that the IT industry will be an engine powering economies out of economic doldrums, creating more that 75,000 new businesses in the next four years and adding jobs at a rate of 3 percent annually.
‘Countries that foster innovation and invest in infrastructure, education and skills development for their citizens will have a major competitive advantage in the global marketplace,’ said Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer.
‘In this fundamental economic reset, innovative technologies will play a vital role in driving productivity gains and enabling the creation of new local businesses and highly skilled jobs that fuel economic recovery and support sustainable economic growth.'”
This one’s scary. Professionals don’t usually do this, but there are just people who can do this even though they’re termed as ‘professional’. People can sometimes be incited by their anger towards the company because they’re laid off or were cut off of the payroll, and this thing can really happen! Companies should make sure that their system, their files and documents, important passwords are secure beyond illegal infiltration. Thanks for this article. Many people would be enlightened about this.
Fantastic article. We have had problems with former IT workers stealing from the company and using corporate credit cards for personal use. You invite trouble when you let people know all of the details of what goes on behind the scenes at your company. I agree that audits and background checks are the best preventative measures for internal fraud.
Yeah, IT is one of the departments that can really ruin a company if you do mistreat them. Because they have access to so many vital parts of a company that, if messed up, can screw up the operation of other vital departments, it’s not a good idea to mistreat them. The same goes with custodial staff, mistreating them can yield some unwanted messes to clean up, and considering that they have access to almost every single room in the building, the damage can be even more widespread.
Interesting article, sometimes it’s hard to think that those who once were in charge of keeping everything in order, could later disrupt everything. Sadly it happens more often than we are told! I think that when you are fired for no apparent reason, other than the company trying to save some cash… well the temptation to do such a thing is big. But some don’t do it out of fear of getting caught.