Once every six months or so, we run into office security problems. These usually show up as a few folks losing stuff off their desks, or purses or wallets-in-jackets from their cubes. There’s a flurry of “Keep alert!” e-mails that fly around, and that’s about it.
And about once every year and a half, there’s talk about photo ID badges. Because, to be honest, it’s not just a matter of personal, but intellectual property that we need to worry about. We have a number of clients with proprietary processes that we do engineering work for — pharmaceutical, food-beverage, etc. And knowledge of competitors’ capital plans (even in less sensitive businesses like refineries) is always of value, even if the processes aren’t proprietary. We do work at military sites regarding environmental clean-up that generates maps and reports of interest to some activists. Heck, we even do some DHS work here, which obviously has security implications. We could be subject to considerable industrial espionage, and we’d never know it.
Not that it would be easy, but it’s possible.
But, of course, as soon as anyone suggests badges, we run into practical difficulties — who will do the photography, what will be the procedures surrounding it, and how much will it all cost? I mean, this isn’t rocket science, nor are we the first company to have done it, but you’d think so from the debates that rage. Heck, any number of other offices in this company do it (usually at the behest of clients), but it’s not a corporate mandate (and don’t get me started on security at our corporate offices) — largely because I suspect the execs don’t want to have to hassle with badges.
And the money issue is always the trump card, along with the sad fact that we have multiple business units in the office, and they all have to agree on something like this, or else it’s useless.
Last time the thieves hit, it was all in one wing of the building (don’t ask me why, though that makes it sound more like an inside job). The answer — after badges were, again, rejected — was to leave the fire door into that wing (the one I’m in) closed and require card-key entry.
Which is irksome when you need to be going back and forth through it to the bathroom, the copier room, other parts of the building, the drinking fountain, etc.
Ah, but there’s something around here that always trumps security, inconvenience, and usually even money, and that’s safety. Despite the various signs that kept being put up, folks would blow out of the wing at high speed, which could mean a collision (with a door if not a person) if you were standing on the other side of the door, fumbling with your card-key.
So, as of this morning, the door is back to being open. It’s almost like having a dull pain that you’ve grown used to suddenly going away, to be able to freely walk out and in without having to dig out your card-key or worry about being slammed into.
That leaves the security issue, of course. And word is they’re trying to decide if they can put a window in the door (are the doors really meant as serious fire doors?), or have them go both directions (one for in and one for out) or …
… yes, someone’s mentioned photo badges again. And it even sounds like it has some momentum.
Of course, nobody ever likes their picture, especially as hair (head and facial) changes shapes and colors and presence. And, inevitably, picture day is when you chose to wear that one shirt that makes you look really fat, or sloppy, or you were going to get your hair cut but you didn’t and they had those high winds at lunch …
More worrisome to me is getting into the habit of having my company ID with me every day. Margie manages it, somehow, but she’s more organized than I am, plus she has a purse to drop it into. If I could make it a habit to put it with my computer, that would be good, but I can see problems with that. And since it’s not an always-have (like my Palm or my cell phone), its absence won’t trigger worrisome “Do I have everything with me” subconscious warnings.
Still, I think it’s the right thing to do. I hope they get their act together and do it.