Manager asking for my password when I am off

Marcon

Penguin_ said:

Pretty much as above really, due to take a couple of days off from work (in a role I have been employed in for 5 years) & my manager has asked for my password for my computer "in case anything comes up".

Do I have to give them this? obviously I know then can get IT to re-set it etc but do I have to say yes?

If the company policy is 'never share passwords' (and everyone seems to assume that's invariably the case - it isn't, which is why you need to check before assuming it's a universal truth...), maybe look positive and constructive by suggesting you put an out of office message on your email system indicating your emails are not being read while you are on leave, so please resend to [name and email of your manager]?

MyRealNameToo

Grumpy_chap said:

I would also be wary that this might be a duplicitous manager trying to trick the OP so that they have something to hold the OP to in the future and / or a specific training test set by IT just to see how secure passwords are being kept.

Thats a high level of paranoia you've got going on there. I mean you may as well go the whole hog and say the boss is intending to do something more materially wrong whilst logged in as the OP so they get blamed for the inappropriate payment or such. If they know where the OP is going they can even use a VPN to make it appear the log in happened from Spain or wherever it is. 

My assumption, assuming a quarter decent relationship with the boss, is it comes from a place of ignorance rather than maliciousness and either there is the widespread bad practice of saving stuff to computers' local hard drives and/or people dont know how to share mailboxes. 

Suzycoll

Penguin_ said:

Pretty much as above really, due to take a couple of days off from work (in a role I have been employed in for 5 years) & my manager has asked for my password for my computer "in case anything comes up".

Do I have to give them this? obviously I know then can get IT to re-set it etc but do I have to say yes?

No I would not give my boss my work password full stop

Why is he/she needing to get into your pc - do they not have one of their own?

If it's an emergency the IT section should be able to access it

Enjoy your time off & tell them not to bother you. 

Grey_Critic

He should be talking with the IT manager. Companies I have worked for have several levels of access. Your password would be linked to that. Because of my role at one particular company mine gave access in some restricted areas.

SidJ

Where I worked letting anyone else have your password was a serious security breach. One case I knew of a team leader asked his team for their passwords. He was told in no uncetain terms if he tried to take it forward he would face severe disiplinary measures

robatwork

Probably missed the boat on this one, but in such a position I would ask the manager what they want the password to be. He says "Bozo$1234". Set it to this. Then reset it once back. I wouldn't give my password to anyone.

Emmia

robatwork said:

Probably missed the boat on this one, but in such a position I would ask the manager what they want the password to be. He says "Bozo$1234". Set it to this. Then reset it once back. I wouldn't give my password to anyone.

The effect of altering the password and giving that to the boss, is the same as the OP just handing over their current password, and changing it when they return.

The boss shouldn't have access to the OPs account/computer and it's likely against the company IT policies.

Tabieth

robatwork said:

Probably missed the boat on this one, but in such a position I would ask the manager what they want the password to be. He says "Bozo$1234". Set it to this. Then reset it once back. I wouldn't give my password to anyone.

That’s still sharing a password and, in literally every organisation that I’ve ever worked, that would be still considered misconduct. 

robatwork

Emmia said:

robatwork said:

Probably missed the boat on this one, but in such a position I would ask the manager what they want the password to be. He says "Bozo$1234". Set it to this. Then reset it once back. I wouldn't give my password to anyone.

The effect of altering the password and giving that to the boss, is the same as the OP just handing over their current password, and changing it when they return.

The boss shouldn't have access to the OPs account/computer and it's likely against the company IT policies.

The reason I suggested that is that the OP's password may be one he uses elsewhere. Therefore safer to change it first rather than give a stranger "his" password. 

I do realise that this is against all IT good practice - both giving out your password and having one main password. But I'm in the real world where, especially in small companies, these things go on routinely. 

Emmia

robatwork said:

Emmia said:

robatwork said:

Probably missed the boat on this one, but in such a position I would ask the manager what they want the password to be. He says "Bozo$1234". Set it to this. Then reset it once back. I wouldn't give my password to anyone.

The effect of altering the password and giving that to the boss, is the same as the OP just handing over their current password, and changing it when they return.

The boss shouldn't have access to the OPs account/computer and it's likely against the company IT policies.

The reason I suggested that is that the OP's password may be one he uses elsewhere. Therefore safer to change it first rather than give a stranger "his" password. 

I do realise that this is against all IT good practice - both giving out your password and having one main password. But I'm in the real world where, especially in small companies, these things go on routinely. 

If you have a password that's the same for work and personal stuff that's asking for trouble.