My former company was acquired by a huge corporate entity that has a reputation of wild expansion and labor contraction.
In the 18 months I worked for them, their disorganization was pretty comical…
Their attempts to send out new workstations to newly conferred employees was disorganized,chaotic, and delayed.
Ultimately, I received a new laptop and then, a few weeks later, they sent a second laptop, even after I had reported that I had received the original laptop. A local manager advised I just hold on to the second laptop and thus, I did not report receiving the second laptop.
About 3 months later, my position was eliminated in a large round of layoffs…
I was a good employee and worked hard for 8 years.
I sent the original laptop back per my separation agreement.
I've been separated from the company for 6 months now, no effort has been made to recover the second laptop… I'm pretty sure they just don't know they sent out a second machine…
My question is , could I keep this second laptop? It will be preloaded with corporate software that would prevent me from using it at all…
Is there some process that I could run to wipe the machine and use it for my personal use?
Obviously, this is unethical and I'm not entirely sure I am comfortable doing so… But I figured this is a safe place to ask.