Caregiver asked for my WiFi password. Why would she ask if she is watching my parents and isn't this a security concern?

Speaking of YouTube, I used to play YT videos for mom. She loved them, a great diversion. America's Got Talent the young girls singing, baby animals, crazy cats, you name it, was a great distraction for mom when she was losing it, or not. She loved it!

www.eldercarelink.com/In-Home-Care/a-good-in-home-service-has-a-cell-phone-policy-for-caregivers.htm

I feel that it is a normal enough question to ask about wi-fi password's these days but your situation is definitely a sensitive one. It bothers me that she didn't know not to ask for your password out of fear of you thinking she was doing something else on the clock than caring for your loved ones. I think there is a time and place for everything and if she is well established with your family and been there for a while, having a respectful discussion about your feelings in regards to whether her using your wi-fi or providing her own internet service would be appropriate. If she isn't established and just asked nonchalantly I would wonder where her head was at. I also know its important not to expect everyone to be as respectful as you would hope they would be and everyone has been through different things in life, causing different thoughts and views on what is correct or not. It's your home, do what makes YOU comfortable.

Lol, jeannegibbs, it's so true. I was a temp for a few years and it goes on EVERYWHERE. Not only on people's personal phones, but also on the company computers. I've seen women browsing wedding gowns, men watching sports replays, people booking their holidays, looking up recipes, reading celebrity gossip, checking the news, diagnosing their children's illnesses.....being online at work is certainly nothing new.

At one corporation where I temped, one of the team members took time every afternoon to pull up Jason Mraz's bouncy tune, "I'm Yours," on YouTube (on the company computers) and call out "Chair dance!"  We'd be literally rolling, spinning, and swiveling our desk chairs around the room to the music.  Data entry is one of the most monotonous jobs in the world - it was a nice, fun little energy boost that woke us all up during the afternoon "slump."

Expecting a worker to be nothing but a total drudge on the job is a recipe for receiving a resignation.

I have a guest network set up on my router, separate from the network I use. Anyone using it doesn't even have to know they are on the guest network. It is just a network name and password without capabilities except for internet access. I used to be a network administrator in my previous life, in the tech industry for 45 years.

The only possible reason I can see that you wouldnt let her have yoir password is if you use the same password for everything and if thats the case, you need a crash course in risk assessment. in any normal job you get breaks when you can take care of things on line.

Because she would rather not use all her data and she is sick of her phone battery dying because it is constantly searching for WiFi. Not a security risk unless she has mad computer skills and questionable morals

Whether or not home caregivers want and expect to use the Internet often depends on how they are hired. If they are employees of an agency, then the agency typically does not allow its employees to use the Internet, phone, T.V., ... for personal use while working. If home caregivers are contractors, then the agency can't tell them how to do their jobs. It's up to you to set the rules.

Many people who hire home care agencies have never had the experience of being managers. They [people who hire home care agencies] either mistakenly assume the home care agencies are responsible for telling the home caregivers how to do their [home caregivers] jobs or they [people who hire home care agencies] expect the home caregivers to tell them [people who hire home care agencies] how they [home caregivers] are supposed to do their [home caregivers] jobs. Many home caregivers take advantage of this and may even expect it after awhile.

Think about it. How many times do you see others using the Internet for non-work purposes while they are working? The only times I've seen this done is when people have desk jobs and they answer the phone or text to give a short reply or tell the person they will get back to them during the next break.

These are the main issues I have found with allowing caregivers to use their phones as entertainment during work hours:

1. Paying insufficient attention to the patient (which can be very dangerous for the patient depending on the circumstances).
2. Encouraging the patient to sleep during the day, which is contrary to what the patient should be doing, especially if s/he has Sun Downers or sleep issues.

I, myself, have never asked home caregivers to do light housework because my MIL was very difficult to take care of. But light housework is typically included in the job description of home caregivers. This can include doing laundry for the patient, going food shopping for the patient, or preparing food for the patient.

BTW, it sounds like you are doing the right thing. Caregivers should be allowed to be on the phone only during their breaks (except if they get an emergency call or text of course). 

I didn't see this mentioned (though it could have been), but you can enter the password for her on her device rather than actually give it to her. Yes, it will be remembered on her device and allow her to access whenever she is in range - which should be fine if you trust her. (And presumably you do, as she is watching your parents.) But that way, you needn't worry about her giving your password out to anyone else. Which isn't likely a concern, either - but I suppose you don't know everyone she does, and at least in theory it is being a bit safer. Just a thought.

One other thing not mentioned here is that you should have a secured network. It still surprises me how many people leave their networks open to be available to anyone in the local vicinity of it. There should be a padlock next to your WiFi network name. And do not use the password provided by the router. Change it! You are fooling yourself if you don’t think people won’t do harm. Maybe not this person but in this day and age of hackers and identity theft...be smart and safe. All you have to do is a google search to see what people can do with your WiFi password. I would not do it. Let them use their own data. You don’t truly know anything about these hired caregivers.  It is always amazing when a neighbor is interviewed whose neighbor murdered someone and they always say what a nice quiet guy they were.  (In other words "you never really know a stranger"). 

Thank you all for a very spirited discussion on the WIFI password question. I have two caregivers, one during the week and one on the weekend. Both have been here for eight months. This is the first time that the weekday caregiver asked for this. The weekend caregiver has not asked so far. Both caregivers are on their phones during downtime.

redgrandad - because the signal strength is often strong enough for a neighbour or someone nearby (even a passer-by outside) to use your wifi. They could use up all your bandwidth, or use your IP for illegal purposes (like accessing child porn or illegal downloading).

If you click on the wifi icon on your device or laptop, you can see a list of everyone whose wifi is "in range" of your laptop/device.

The icon will look like this, if you're not familiar:
cdn2.iconfinder.com/data/icons/flaticons-stroke/15/wifi-rounded-3-512.png
or:
simpleicon.com/wp-content/uploads/signal.png

The wifi accounts you see listed belong to your nearest neighbours' home/business internet accounts, or to nearby smartphones that are being used as wifi hubs (meaning they're using their phone data plan to connect other devices to the internet), or to nearby devices that have a wifi stick (a USB plug-in similar to a flash drive, but for accessing the internet anywhere, like you would on a smartphone).  If any of these wifi accounts are not passworded, you could connect to the internet through them. And if you can see their account, they can see yours. 

(I actually shared a wifi account with a neighbour in my building for a few years - half the cost for each of us!  It worked through two concrete block walls.)

If it doesn't matter as some of you say and it is good only in the house, why do you have a wifi password in the first place?

If they are working for an agency, I doubt that asking for your password is according to the agency policy. If they are hired from an agency through a social program like Medicaid, the rules are even more strict. Perhaps a review of the specific agency's policies would be a good idea here.

I would not give the password to my wifi to someone who was working in my home. I pay for a package that is suitable for our family and don't want to add to that for others convenience. If they asked I would just tell them it is only for family members living in the home. If they pressed me I would have to tell them free wifi is not included in our agreement. Yes, use of your network does put you at some risk assuming the person is tech savvy and nosy, or less likely, has ill intent... they can access your home network and any shared files on devices there. That requires a level of skill any ten year old has but most adults might find foreign. LOL You could also be on the hook for illegal activity done from your IP address that is traced back to your home. Worst case scenario is you get raided, your computers & devices would be taken and those would be checked. Of course, they'd find nothing illegal accessed from those, you'd list all people who have your IP address and that would most likely be the end of it. I don't feel responsible for providing entertainment for anyone who works in my home. They know their job and what it entails and they're not children soooo they don't get to make their problem into my problem.

Never, ever give out any private protected info to anyone. Let your caregiver bring their own devices.

Most new routers allow for two WiFi networks so you can make a “guest” network and give her thatbpassword and keep yours a secret. You can even schedule it to be off when she is not on duty.

Bottom line if you don’t want to give her the password offer to set it up for her and you enter the password on her device.

There are several issues mixed up here. ‘Trust’ works in the circumstances you know – it isn’t sensible to trust anyone on everything in any circumstances. Do you trust your carer to focus on the job, and only to use the internet for ‘down time’? That’s an important question. Do you trust the carer not to find how to hack into your computer, get a friend to sit outside in a car doing the same thing, or get involved in a major scam you might have some liability for? You probably know enough about the carer to know if that’s highly unlikely, though making sure that you don't use the same password for wifi and the computer is good advice. Do you think she might use up all your download allowance so that your bill goes up? That can be handled. You can phone your internet provider and ask if you usually use most of your download allowance. If you don’t, the carer’s extra use won’t increase the bill. If you do, it might cost you more, but you can make an agreement that the carer pays for the extra.   The most important question is your parents’ care.

Oh for Pete's sake! Give her the darn WiFi Password. If you can't trust her with that, then why are you trusting her to properly care for your parents? O.o

Why dont you connect her up to your wifi then she has it but cant do anything bad with it, by giving it to mates who can sit outside in their cars and drain it. I never use all my gerbils [GBs] so happy to share as it only goes about 100yards outside and I live rurally. I dont know how but it seems one can check how much data is being used so say fine but only for this and that, no games or netflix or whatever drains data usage, I think wifi is a bit like asking if they can charge their battery on cell phone whilst working etc these days and not like something really spooky

I’ve seen a lot of answers each way. The least correct werevthe worries about liability indemnification. For gosh sakes, walk out in your yard and you will be able to access two or three stray wifi networks. Ditto any Starbucks, public library and in some cities even open public spaces. I can assure you there are no liability issues for you.
From experience, good, loving caretakers are to be cherished. They are much more than just an employee. They are the person with whom you are entrusting the well being of your loved one.
I take care of my wife and use the internet to check on meds, nutrition, and often just stuff that interests me such as home building, garden plans, etc.
I would go nuts if my only outlet was the inane stuff on daytime TV.
The wifi access will not allow her to access your computer, only those things that interest her from her smart phone or tablet.
We live in a whole new world and she is worth keeping them by al means input the password for her. Once she has connected one time her device will “remember “ your wifi while in your house or
patio.

How about setting up a guest Wifi password?

Wow, this struck a nerve. I only read response through page 6.
My CGs have use of my Wi-Fi. They have even looked up info for me. No one in this area expects them to be on their feet working at all times. Besides being a companion, and letting me have time out of the home, they do some light housework, like cleaning my aunt's bathroom, changing her sheets, making her lunch, vacuuming the area she uses. This helps me, but I really want them to assure her safety. She has fallen, and now she's doing some odd things that probably come from the dementia. One CG also drives her to get her hair done (that got her out of the house so I could clean my oven, and air the home.) Driving and cleaning cost extra.

If my aunt is napping, I expect CG to be awake and alert enough to respond. If she reads or checks emails, no problem.

I have a different perspective. I hired a caregiver who would be on her phone during breakfast or while "watching tv" with my dad. He would be talking to her, asking a question, and would get no response. I'm not paying her to be on her phone and ignore my dad. So, I wouldn't give her my wifi password. If I had a job I'd only use my phone during breaks. My caregiver only worked 2 hr shifts (each at b, l and dinner). Just my 2 cents. And yes, they advertised "light housekeeping" so I expected that too.

pretty much means she wants to get on board your internet and text, shop, email, etc. I would feel a little iffy about that as well. Just had to let a caregiver go who thought it was ok to sit in another room with the television on full blast, eat all my food and have her friends and family come visit. Did you ask her ?

One, your WiFi password should be the only time that password is used. Do not use the same password for multiple anything. I didn't know you could have a guest WiFi set up. If/when I have caregivers I will ask my provider if that service is available.


I do not think it is fair to have a caregiver start dusting, doing laundry, or anything else. A contract should have been signed stating what the duties are. Believe it or not, in a lot of areas housekeepers make more money than caregivers. I used to clean houses and one of things that used to make me boil was I contracted to do certain chores. Then, in a month or so, the homeowner would try to add cleaning windows or doing personal laundry. For the same amount of money of course. More than what I contracted for. I quit a couple of jobs because of that.

As long as it's not a password you use for anything important I don't see the big issue. She can't use it once she leaves you home. And as long as she is getting her duties done ...

When at someone else's home I just ask them to put in the password for the wi fi. Then you don't have to give it to them and they will automatically be connected when at your house. Should be no problems that way. Just make sure your personal computer(s) are locked when you are not home.

I used the Internet to look up new med. side effects, answer questions my two wards had, learn information on ways to deal with problems that came up with them, even recipes, for new things to make them to eat. So I think it will be of benefit to them. I did use it myself to entertain when they wanted to watch something on TV I did'nt care for, I also used it to show them pictures that there families sent, and keep them updated. So yes give the care giver access it will be of great benafit to all.

I vote "No". Why would she need it. I wonder if some friend/relative asked her to get it. If she has time on her hands maybe she could do some chores.

BetseyP