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

My current caregiver asked the same thing the first week. My response was, “I am not comfortable sharing private information as such”. End of story...end of song. Especially knowing your live in boyfriend is extremely techy and builds systems.

On a separate issue raised in this thread, don't expect in-home-help to do extra work without extra pay!

Our contract specifically said that the PCA was not to do additional household chores. She could give my husband breakfast, but not make a crockpot meal for our supper, for example.

Our PCA was an absolute gem. She liked to keep busy, and as my husband became less and less active she was restless. She used her cell phone a lot when he was sleeping. She never asked for the wifi password, but I would have given it to her if either of us had thought of it.

I did give her other optional tasks. (Shame on me.) The one I remember is organizing the linen closet. I asked if she'd like to do that, said I knew that it was outside the scope of her duties, and if she didn't want to do it I would certainly not hold it against her. It was the kind of task one could easily leave in the middle when the client woke up. She was very eager to do this. She did an amazing job! In a few days she had the shelves organized and neat. (Now, six years later, I wish I could get her back to do it again!)

My mother and my husband, both with dementia, liked tasks that they viewed as useful, and weren't too enthusiastic about make-work tasks just to keep them busy. I think most of us like to think we are doing useful activities. Our PCA considered organizing the linen closet more useful than playing games on her smart phone.

So I am sympathetic to those who want their paid help to be busy with useful tasks most of time, or at least some of the downtime. I think it is important not to exploit the help or to take for granted they should do more than their contract calls for. But I also think it is OK to help them feel useful if that is what they want.

Wow! Eight pages of responses to this question! And they contradict each other.

Back in the very olden days, when phones were physically attached to jacks I would often be in a business and ask, "how to a get an outside line?" and I would be told "just dial 9 and wait for the dialtone" or "dial 50 first" or whatever the code was on their system. Businesses typically blocked long-distance calls unless you had another access code. Knowing how to access an outside line gave me access to absolutely nothing except a dialtone to dial out.

I've regarded the wifi password as simply the "dial 9" code.

Maybe that is naive. I am going to ask my son who is a professional techie and very security conscious.

I would not let just anyone use my computer. But the internet access code? Help yourself.

Whatever you do, don't give it to her!

Don't do it. Case in point. Son has visitor's over. They used my internet to use their computers inside my house. Child protection services show up at my house and take all my computers, looking for child porn. I got my computer and disks back as all they found were photo's of my grandkids and all the music I had was legal down loads (they didn't really care about the music, just surprised I paid for it) as they were just looking for the porn. The damage was the fact it got on the news. It was in the newspaper, on TV and on the radio. And when they found out it wasn't us they didn't bother to put it out there so people thought we were real nasty folks. They did catch the guy who had the porn as they traced him through his own computer. Not something I want to ever go through again. No one is allowed to use my wifi and never ever my computer.

Forgive me if someone has already answered this.....tell her you will be happy toput it in her phone for her. That way when she comes over to the house she can get on line but she doesn’t know your password. It will come up automatically in your house and she can do what she needs to do. Just like in a hotel, you have to access their WiFi in the room. When you join another WiFi business or home it will automatically let you in without putting in the password every time. I too would want to be able to get emails or relax if I had some downtime but not when I was supposed to be doing something. Hope this helps. God Bless

My response is to the poster that suggested the caregiver "take on more responsibilities" because there is a lot of down time. What was the agreement when the caregiver was hired? If their job is to take care of your parents, that means that they are not responsible for cleaning the house, cooking, doing laundry, etc. If you want the caregiver to "take on more responsibilities", you also should be prepared to "take on more expense", as doing things like cleaning the house, cooking, doing laundry certainly require paying more for those services.

With regard to the Wi-Fi issue, the only thing giving the caregiver the password does is allow them to use your wireless internet access so they can access & use their own applications---they cannot access your own personal applications on your computer, tablet, cell phone, etc. There is nothing to worry about by allowing the caregiver to utilize your wi-fi with respect to security.

Don't create a problem when there is none.

I don't see a lot of harm in someone checking on an important email once in a while, but it seems that many people, especially those under the age of 30, don't have a lot of restraint in that regard. So it's a slippery slope to go down.
How long is her shift? Is it 4 hours or 14 hours? That should weigh in as well.
If her shifts are short, I'd look at this way: Your home isn't a cafe or hotel where she is paying YOU or BUYING something from you ( a room, a meal, a $5 cup of coffee) and so is given wifi as an incentive to choose your cafe/hotel/etc....
You/we are paying THEM. Caregiver companies charge $15-$30/hour, which is too much money to pay for someone to surf the web. That's not saying that's all they will do, but let's face it, texting and selfies and web-surfing have too often taken over and caused slacking off in many workplaces, as well as causing great dangers on the roads because people can't seem to tear themselves away from looking at their texts, emails, and social media.
At my Mom's rehab facility, the staff are not allowed to have their phones with them at any time unless they are on break in the breakroom.
Personally, I would never go into anyone's home and ask them to provide me with wifi any more than I would ask them to provide me with lunch or cable tv. If they offered it, that would be different. But it really doesn't set well with me for an employee to ask me to provide entertainment for them to make their job more fun or interesting.
My bf's daughter was on movie sets in Atlanta that took everyone's phones when they checked in for the day and were without them for the duration of filming that day, which could be as long as 16 hours a day with a LOT of downtime. They'd return the phones to them at mealtimes, if they wanted to stand in line with 100 other extras.
Jobs aren't about being comfortable or having fun, or checking in on social media. That doesn't make you a slave driver, unless, of course, her shifts are long.
I think I"d take it up with her boss and ask them how to handle it. Let them know you're pleased with her care otherwise and just see what they say. This isn't the first time they've had this question, I"m sure. :)

No. She does not need your password. What she does with her time is part of the job. You are not responsible for entertaining her/him.

The caregiver probably has her own electronic device, however your password only works in your house. It only allows access to the internet, not your accounts, etc. No harm. When my grand kids come to visit, I have it taped on the side of the remote so they can just look and enter, don't even have to ask.

At my parents' home we have wifi because the Internet package was cheaper with phone and cable. Over a year ago one of our caregivers asked for the password. I wasn't as much worried about security as I was her sitting there playing games and I wasn't as much worried about security as I was her sitting there playing on Facebook. Laundry was one of her duties and my mother would help her fold. I went there every night to give my mother a pill and get her settled for the night. There would be times laundry would still be in the washer or would still be in the dryer. I let her go after 11 mos. In the beginning she was great. Over time she had gotten a little lazy, could not handle remarks my mother(a person with Alzheimer's) would say, had called off 19 times in 154 days and was not being very nice to me.

part 2. My mom does not have access to a phone ( she has dementia, misdials and calls all hours of the night and day). She has a caregiver with an unlimited plan that will call her sisters for her and let her talk. A godsend.

I would never deny my wifi to a person that I allowed into my home. It's a courtesy. My computers require a pin to get into and all sensitive information on them are secured by layers of multifactorauthorizations required by my software.
If it were someone I didn't trust, they wouldn't be in my home.
As far as her surfing the net instead of working, maybe she just wants to play some tunes. I do while I'm working.

I worked for a care agency. They specifically said not to be on the internet, especially social media. It looks bad if the carer is posting about being bored, or at work, taking selfies etc. I don't do social media so it didn't bother me in the least.
Carers do housework, and anything the family wants. Have her make some crock pot meals that can be frozen, or dinner, laundry, or any housekeeping. She won't be bored or need a password. She will be busy! Personally I wouldn't dare ask for someone's password. It is their home and their WiFi.
Maybe she is a college student and you wouldnt mind if she does homework, then it's up to you. Good luck.

Having your wifi password would let her access the internet on HER smart phone or i-Pad.

Unless you use your WiFi password each time to get on-line, she can already use your computer - which, obviously is not what she's asking for. She would NOT have access to any of your files that you use a password for, unless you leave them open.

It's a good idea to close your email account when not using it - just because there are hackers scanning thousands of hours of thousands of accounts. If you're not a billionaire and have no access to any corporate secrets, you're a very unlikely target, but there is a wee chance. Of course never leave your bank accounts open online.

I don't claim to be an expert, but have been using email since 1985 (and yes, that's before the Internet), and quite a few various kinds of programs. When I have a problem I can't find an answer for online, I ask my son (whose work is advising companies what programs they need and how to use them). But for security issues - or any odd glitch - ask a kid! Most children have been on-line since they were three.

WHEN YOU HAVE A COMPUTER QUESTION, ASK A TEENAGER.

Is it safe to assume that this caregiver doesn't live with you, but is there only during the day when you're at work? Did you ask the caregiver why she wants your WiFi password and what and when she intends to use HER computer or smartphone/iPhone to access the Internet? I'm assuming that since she only asked for your WiFi password she'd be using her own laptop or smartphone/iPhone. If you're not feeling comfortable with her having your WiFi password, can you set up a guest WiFi password for her? Whether the caregiver is live-in or just comes to your house during the day, the most important thing to make sure of is that she's not neglecting your parents for the Internet (ie, spending time on her laptop or phone when your parents are awake). 

In terms of the principle of the thing--- ie her main job being as a caregiver and her wanting to spend time online on the Internet: How much down time does this caregiver have when your parents are napping? And, do you have a way to ensure that she's not going to be on her laptop or phone when your parents are up and about and she should be focusing on them? Does she need to be online to check out possible activities in your area that she would want to take your parents to/accompany them to with the purpose of getting them out of the house and keeping them mentally engaged? If you want the caregiver taking your parents to some activities in your community, then allowing her to get on the Internet to check out what's available can be an advantage and save you the time of having to search for these activities yourself.  Also, during your parents nap time, this is also the caregivers chance to rest and regroup since caregiving can be physically and mentally demanding. So, instead of having her look at the 4 walls or only be able to watch TV, which she may not want to do, having access to the Internet on her laptop or phone could be a relaxing downtime activity for her to renew and refresh herself ONLY while your parents are napping.  

One caveat here: Even though you say she's nice, I wouldn't be that trusting to simply take her word that she would only be using her laptop or smartphone/iPhone while your parents are asleep. I speak from experience here. My mom (now deceased) had one-on-one caregivers in her apartment. They were all nice people, but with Internet access in my mom's apartment,  the caregivers would plunk my mom down in front of the TV during her waking hours, when they should have been engaging with and focusing on her/her needs or taking her on planned outings, and then spent almost that entire time during their shifts on their cellphones surfing the web or doing emails, instead of caring for my mom. That would have been fine for them to do when my mom was asleep or resting. But, that's not what happened-- they were on their phones when my mom was awake and up and about.  My mom would end up sitting in front of the TV for several hours while the caregivers were focused on their phones instead of on her. I don't live in the same state my mom lived in, so couldn't be there everyday to monitor things, and I didn't have a web cam to monitor what was going on in her apartment. But, my mom's care manager caught the caregivers doing this while my mom was awake, and I also witnessed this when I was visiting my mom. And even after speaking with the caregivers about this, without having a way to monitor them via a webcam or other type of camera every minute of the time they were with my mom, they continued focusing on being on their phones when my mom was awake and up and about, sometimes even neglecting to realize that my mom needed a diaper change (and, my mom had problems with very frequent UTIs). As a result, we ended up having to let several of the caregivers go.  About the only way you could ensure that the caregiver isn't neglecting your parents for the computer or smartphone is for you to have a monitoring camera/webcam in your home that you can access remotely from work to check to make sure that everything at home is going ok while you're not there and that the caregiver is attending to your parents when they're awake, rather than neglecting them because she's on her equipment and on the Internet.

In terms of the one response in this thread about the caregiver vacuuming and doing light housework while the parents were resting: If that has been stipulated as part of the caregiver's duties in your contract with her, then she should be using her down time to do light housekeeping or to wash dishes. But, if you've hired her ONLY to take care of your parents, I don't think it's appropriate for her to do anything other than wash dishes or put dishes in the dishwasher from meals that she has served your parents. 

If you trust the caregiver to be in the home providing care to your LO, then asking for a WIFI password is a normal thing. When I have visitors in my home, giving the WIFI password is a normal thing so they can access the internet.

Hi...I am a caregiver who Does not have password... i dont want to play games.. no
But What I do have is a cellphone contract that has betty little ALLOWED DATA USE.
Unless I'm on someone,/anyone's WI-FI.
IT just helps if my phone is able to roam on over tip any wifi possible that's free... it autre doesn't mean you have a HACKER I your home. No no.

The lady n I frequently look up things on my phone also.. now
How to handle this!!
Listen ( ) I was just curious,

are you unable to connect your phone at My home? Or is it your data plan is very limited?

I sure don't want any games being played w. A chuckle
Good luck
I am bout to ask for password myself. My data plan is not unlimited

If you trust this person enough to leave your parents alone with her/him for long periods of time, are you really concerned about their integrity?

I'm kinda stunned reading the responses, if she is trust worthy with their very lives don't you think you can trust her with a guest password on your Wi-Fi network?

If she works hard and does a good job caring for your parents and you are uncomfortable giving her access to your network, why not ask her how much it would cost her monthly for unlimited data and give her a cash bonus that would cover the expense monthly. Happy you, happy caregiver, happy parents. Not all people can afford unlimited plans, especially minimum wage workers, like caregivers. 

Sorry, I am really hung up about not trusting caregivers, that have proven themselves, with your WiFi but they are trusted with human beings well being and lives. Think about this, all posters. Could this view point be behind how hard it is to find good care for our LOs?

I have a home care agency and on the handbook for my employees, I have a rule that they can't be on the phone (calling or surfing the internet) while on the job. However, if I have a job that requires the caregiver to be there for a long period of time (over 5 hours), then I would discuss the issue of using internet, phone, tv with the family. If they have Wi-Fi in the house then I would discuss that as well. The caregiver was nice enough to ask you for the Wi-Fi password, if you say no, then I do not think it is the end of the world. She will have to do with the minutes she has on her plan. If you notice that she spends too much time on her phone, bring it up to her employer. If you have hired her privately, then find someone else or make it clear that you do not want her to spend anytime on her phone or the internet. Set up boundaries in advance. That is what we do as employers. Hope this help.

Giving the WiFi password away effectively gives full access to the local network. From there the guest might access the other computers inside the same network unless they have an additional protection. The guest can also try to brute force the router password, can mount man in the middle attacks with ARP or DHCP spoofing ....

Because of this better routers offer a separate guest WiFi with its own password and with a restricted environment where the user can only access the internet but not the internal network.

I agree. don't give out the password. As other members have mentioned it could be shared by other people she knows, or even her inviting them over to the home without your knowledge so they can use the service.

This takes me back to the far-off days when I was my Dad's first line tech support geek... He was 68 and typed with one finger, I knew how to send an email but I hadn't yet come across Alt-Ctrl-Del... You can just imagine what fun we had during those long, long phone calls.

The WiFi password is the access code you will find on the back of your home hub. Your home hub is the box of tricks which handles your broadband connection. To go online, unless you have some other arrangement with your provider, you sign in to this Local Area Network.

This does not give you access to anybody else's smartphone or computer, it is not a password to any private accounts, it just allows you to connect your own device to get online.

I always gave the wifi password out.. mostly to the night caregivers. My parents lived in a small apartment and I would prefer the night shift to stay awake and use their tablet or laptop or phone.. and not watch the tv as that would wake my parents up.

You could only access the wifi if you were in their apartment or within a few feet of their apartment.. you could get a weak signal... so you would have to be in their apartment to benefit from it much.

I suppose there are drawbacks to this.. but it worked out during the time I had to have caregivers to allow them to stay in their apartment.

I am sorry if I am wrong, but I would not give a caregiver your password. If she has down time and a lot of it have her do some extra cleaning. Food prepping. She can read a book. Also a chromebook is under $200, have her buy one. If you feel safe with her and like how she works, maybe you could buy her one and then take so much weekly out of her pay. But I would insist the chromebook stays at your place until fully paid for. I would not even ask to borrow a family member's computer, I think it is personal.

Without thinking too hard, here are some of the things I would have done online while I was caring for my mother...

Finding patient information leaflets for a px'd medication
Ordering groceries
Ordering continence care products
Assisting with choosing grandchildren's birthday presents
Looking up the right plant for a bare patch in the flower bed
Confirming a doctor's appointment time
Checking routes to a hospital
Getting an accurate weather forecast
Researching family trees
Looking up hair washing techniques for people with limited mobility

Isn't the internet wonderful?

No you didn't.

Not unless you've got the world's most powerful WiFi hub, anyway, or you're inviting all these people into the house.

We are talking about the wireless network connection that makes the internet available within your home. Like the house wiring. It's not about giving anyone the password to your accounts, it's about their being able to use their *own* accounts in your house.

What is the purpose of the Caregiver being in the home? To care for the consumer or surf the web? Does she work for an agency? Most agencies have policies against aides using their cell phones while on duty. Is there a written care plan in place? This would lay out what tasks the care giver is expected to complete while in the home. Yes the worker should be allowed a break if they are there for several hours and during that time they can do what they want, but if you are paying them to work they should be working. My employer does not allow employees’ access to the Wi-Fi while at work and if I use my phone to access the internet during my breaks or lunch time it is on my own data plan. The caregiver is your employee not a visiting friend.

No no no no no!!...
For all of you who would do this: Why do you even have a password-protected network?
For all those reasons, don't give your password to anyone you don't trust with anything on your network.
Do you use public Wi-Fi to do your banking? Why not?
If you give your Wi-Fi password to anyone, what's to prevent her from giving it to her boyfriend, her kids, or anyone who steals her cell phone? You just made your private network public.

We often have overnight guests, whether it is family or friends. We have two passwords on our router. One is given to guests and one is ours. The guest password does not give access to any of our information. I think all routers are set up this way.