I recently left a remote nonprofit role where I was making $70k for a new remote nonprofit role making $80k with a 32 hour work week (yay!). In my old role, we didn’t have money for laptops so I used my personal computer from day one. My new gig offers the following options for a work laptop – either they provide up to $999 for me to purchase a work laptop that they will own and presumably I will return to them one day when I leave the role, or they reimburse me $750 and I use my personal laptop for work. Two caveats to the last option: 1) if I leave before 24 months of employment, I “may be required” to pay back a pro rated amount of that $750; 2) elsewhere in the employee handbook it says “devices owned or furnished by (org) may be accessed or monitored.”
I’d love the $750 to put towards a big trip this year. I’d even be fine paying back a pro-rated amount if needed later. But I don’t love the fact that they would feel a sense of ownership to my personal device if they furnished it. I also wonder if it would be a good general boundary to have a separate work computer and not worry about my personal laptop being damaged while on a work trip for example.
Thoughts on the best choice?