Four Trust Issues You Must Address Before You Adopt BYOD

Today's workers use a range of devices in their daily routine, yet corporations haven't adopted the level of transparency needed to address BYOD trust issues. A TEKSystems survey found that only 35 percent of companies communicated effectively and regularly updated their device policy, with 65 percent of companies either banning personal device use at work or not employing a policy to moderate employer and employee concerns. Here are the top four BYOD trust issues.

1. BYOD Security

Employers understandably want to protect enterprise data should a device become lost, stolen or hacked. However, security measures like remote data wiping leave employees nervous that their personal information could be remotely viewed or destroyed by their employer. Security tools including location-based tracking utilities that allow IT staff to find lost phones can also be used to monitor employee whereabouts. A BYOD policy should outline what device tracking and remote wiping technologies are used, how these are used and how this impacts employees' daily lives. Some operating systems including the Blackberry 10 offer improved employee privacy tools that separate and safeguard personal and work space, which can alleviate BYOD privacy concerns.

2. BYOD Tech Support

Under BYOD, IT departments may service employee smartphones and tablets, applying patches and security updates, troubleshooting device problems and using a centralized platform to manage mobile devices. Yet 45 percent of U.S. employees worry that the IT help desk staffer will review their personal data and 46 percent of Americans would feel "violated" by this action, a recent Aruba Networks study revealed. Alleviate employee fears by maintaining a transparent policy about IT access of employee devices, strongly reconsidering any acts that may be perceived as spying and having employees maintain work and personal data in discrete places on their devices so IT can troubleshoot without touching anything personal.

3. Acceptable Device Use

When you roll out BYOD, you may fear that some employees will spend more of their time playing games or text messaging than they will working. Yet attempts to track employee productivity may leave staff feeling spied upon and frustrated. Consider geofencing, a strategy that lets you define a zone (i.e. the office) and what apps can be used there. No Angry Birds at work, no problem -- and no need to spy. Or create a blacklist of apps that cannot be installed on employee phones, period.

4. Employer Oversight of Employee Device

As VentureBeat notes, employee personal phone data may not be personal anymore in the event of a lawsuit. Your staff may need to provide you tablet or smartphone data, Web history, message logs, download history, contacts and social media activity in what is called forensic analysis. If a staff member shares that iPad with family members, family member data could be viewed as well. Lay out a policy that covers if and how employee and family-member personal data is tracked, stored and managed, what happens to this data if an employee leaves the company and what happens in the event of a lawsuit. Arming employees with knowledge is the only way to bridge this trust gap.

Pete Crawford used to hire and fire people for a Fortune 500 company. These days he is an HR consultant who golfs as much as he can.