I think it is totally inappropriate that they were using your company computers for personal work. You pay for the computer, you pay for the subscription/ownership of Word, you pay the electricity, and you are paying their time. They are probably making a wage on you while they groom their resume to leave you. They are taking advantage of you. Our employee handbook clearly states that phones, copiers, computers, etc are company property and should never be used for personal reasons. Do you have such a policy? If not, I think you should make one and have your employees sign it. (This might also be a nice hint.) My employees are very kind about asking if they even need to copy a page for personal reasons, and I always let them. But, they understand where the line is.
If this happened at my office, I would not want to continue with an employee who is telling other companies she/he is immediately available for hire. This shows there is no loyalty to you or your office, and the employee is not invested in your company mission. Their desktop is no private space, and you should have no problem confronting them about what is on the desktop, which you run across in the normal function of your IT duties.
Chris - absolutely agree.
When I ran IT & Business Services for a sizeable private bank, I actually saw an employee come in his manager's office and complain that we had instituted an edge device that blocked several personal user websites. Turns out it was blocking access to his porn.
SMH. Some people only respond to action, rules mean nothing to them.
