Whitman College Work from Home

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Last updated: Apr 09, 2020 by hamiltew

When working with College-related information (especially sensitive academic or business data) - it is always preferable to use a College-owned and managed workstation; however, there are times when it may be necessary to use a personal device to get your work done.  Please have discussions with your supervisor or manager regarding whether or not a personal device is an appropriate solution for a 'work-at-home' arrangement.

In such cases, you should be mindful of the data you are handling and apply many of the same behaviors as you do with your College-owned computer and environment.

Considerations:

Communications:

  • Determine the best way to handle communications.

    • Consider Google Meet and Google Chat for inter-office communications.

    • The simplest solution may be to update your office phone voicemail greeting with appropriate, alternate contact information.
    • You are encouraged to have voicemail messages sent to your email for listening and processing, which you can do via the Phone Requests form.
    • In some cases forwarding your office phone may necessary. Discuss this with your supervisor and workgroup.
      • You can forward your desk phone at the handset:
        • If you are forwarding it to a local number, add "7" before your number.
        • For a long-distance number, add "71" before your number.
      • If you are not able to access your handset or need assistance setting up your forwarding, you can fill out the Phone Requests form.
        Alternately, you can email phones@whitman.edu for phone number assistance.

Computer/Workspace:

  • Whether you are in your home or a common area, take a few minutes to assess the privacy of your workspace.

  • Secure your workspace.

    • Can someone standing behind you read your computer screen? 

    • What information do you need to secure before grabbing a cup of coffee or heading to the restroom? 

      • Windows-key + L is a quick way to lock your Windows machine.

      • Command + Ctrl + Q for a recent Macs

  • Run updates on your computer.  These will take place automatically on Whitman-owned Macs.  If you are working remotely on a Windows machine, you will want to run updates manually, and it's straight-forward.  Please follow these pages for operating system updates. 

It is generally not appropriate for non-Whitman employees to use College-owned computers.

If you are using a personal computer (not advised), consider setting up an additional user account to help keep work and personal files from sharing the same Desktop and Documents folder.  Both Windows and Macintosh computers allow you to easily create separate user logins.

Try to minimize downloading files to your local computer, if possible.  Pay close attention to the location of any files you download (most programs default to the Downloads or Documents folders).  Cleaning up downloaded files at the end of each work session is advised. 

  • Consider Incognito or Private browsing windows if you are not using separate user accounts -- this keeps logins, caches, and other work/personal settings from overlapping. 

  • Your personal privacy matters too - especially if you video conference with co-workers.  Check to see if there is anything around you that you would not want visible during a video conference. 

Special Network Considerations:

If you need to connect to IP-restricted resources (like Colleague, Millennium, K:drive, S:drive, etc.) you will need to connect to Whitman’s VPN.  

Whitman's VPN is a limited and shared resource – remember to disconnect from the VPN after you are done accessing resource that are only available through the VPN.  If you forget to disconnect, others may not be able to connect to access their resources.

Please contact the WCTS Help Desk for assistance in getting an account, installing the software, and the process for connecting to Whitman’s VPN.