Return To Office Equipment

To allow IRS employees, while working at an approved telework or other authorized location(s), to connect a personally owned wired keyboard, mouse, headphone, external speaker and/or docking station/port replicator to his/her government-furnished laptop if the following requirements are met:

1. The peripheral device shall be wired. Wireless devices are prohibited unless acquisitioned in accordance with IRM 10.8.26.3.16.10, Wireless System Components.

2. The wired keyboard, mouse, headphone, external speaker and docking station/port replicator has not been plugged into a public computer kiosk or non-trusted computer.

3. The above peripheral devices must not have any additional built-in storage capacity. Any type of volatile or non-volatile memory capabilities that could possibly allow for injection of malware or have ability to save or capture into memory; device signals, keystrokes, etc. that could pose a security vulnerability, are not allowed.

I, for one, think there are so many exciting advantages to purchasing equipment for your home office.  While it is going to squeeze into my fun money, in the long run, it will be so worth it. For starters, I am not a fan of the headphone set assigned to us by IRS. Now let’s be honest here. You are going to forget something at some point at least once (daily, if you’re me), and not having to unload/load, set up and take down equipment to and from home, is going to be a time saver and an extra 15-30 minutes of sleep in the morning. So, if you plan to get your own equipment, please keep the above IRM in mind when making those home office equipment purchases.

Your management will be the appropriate one to assist you if you do have any additional questions or for finally approval. And please remember that Union stewards are happy to assist you, if you have run into any issues or have any questions regarding your purchases and as we transition back to the building. 

Rachel Lovins