Threatens to turn it into employee servitude? It essentially is, especially as this becomes more widespread and harder to avoid through employment choice. Though if my choices are eventually "live...
There’s technology that records facial expressions and tone of voice to collect “mood and sentiment analysis” to measure employees’ affect and attitude. And the Black Mirror-esque implications of that monitoring cross socio-economic divides: In white-collar office jobs, it’s combined with AI-powered email and Slack message analysis to assess workplace culture; in offshore call centers, it’s paired with predictive conversation scripts to judge whether employees are responding to customer complaints with appropriate obsequiousness and pep.
While innovations like these are typically couched as a means of building a better, more efficient workplace, this level of technological creep threatens to turn workplace management into employee servitude.
Threatens to turn it into employee servitude? It essentially is, especially as this becomes more widespread and harder to avoid through employment choice. Though if my choices are eventually "live in a tent" or work at one of these companies, the tent looks pretty good honestly.
Banning this kind of surveillance should be standard on the demand list of every union, if not at a federal level. Workers need to firmly say no.
On the one hand, monitoring mood/relationships (edit: or whatever the fuck makes culture) is crossing a massive overreaching Big Brother line. On the other, I'd be deeply amused by the idea of...
In white-collar office jobs, it’s combined with AI-powered email and Slack message analysis to assess workplace culture;
On the one hand, monitoring mood/relationships (edit: or whatever the fuck makes culture) is crossing a massive overreaching Big Brother line. On the other, I'd be deeply amused by the idea of upper management/exco at my org to receive a report about the degree of sarcasm amongst my coworkers expressing how fucking over various things we are. At some point, you've got to simply let the bs roll off you, and we tend to blow off steam with some healthy humour/banter/sarcasm.
Not that we're stupid, we leave the juicy conversations for personal calls/whatsapp chats or in person.
I've seen a couple health-related apps/surveys/programs rolled out at my workplace, in part through an internal effort, and in part through our health insurance provider. The thing is, they aren't...
...while others rolled out ostensibly health-focused apps and tools that track everything from step count and heart rate to sleep patterns and screen time.
I've seen a couple health-related apps/surveys/programs rolled out at my workplace, in part through an internal effort, and in part through our health insurance provider.
The thing is, they aren't mandatory. Instead, they're marketed as added benefits, or even offer incentives like extra health-spending dollars.
I don't know their adoption rates, but I do know people love 'free' shit. I do too, but am aware enough to be suspicious of their real purpose, so refuse to take part.
Not sure where Im going with this, other than being a reminder that invasions of privacy arent always immediately scary and authoritarian sounding; they're often wrapped up all pretty so they seem like a benefit or convenience.
By the time this tech is being rolled out to run-of-the-mill employees, it's already too late. We need system administrators who give a damn to put their foot down so it never get distributed in...
By the time this tech is being rolled out to run-of-the-mill employees, it's already too late. We need system administrators who give a damn to put their foot down so it never get distributed in the first place.
Or have sys-admins roll it out to senior leadership and management, and let others scrutinise their actions before forcing it on employees?
Sysadmins are also salary dependent employees. In every organization, go along to get along is the typical work attitude. Plenty of people are willing to work as prison guards, or in times of...
Sysadmins are also salary dependent employees. In every organization, go along to get along is the typical work attitude. Plenty of people are willing to work as prison guards, or in times of slavery, overseers.
It would be interesting to see a survey of how many people quit rather than participate in implementing such policies. I also wonder if there were nda's in place to prevent publicizing it.
Threatens to turn it into employee servitude? It essentially is, especially as this becomes more widespread and harder to avoid through employment choice. Though if my choices are eventually "live in a tent" or work at one of these companies, the tent looks pretty good honestly.
Banning this kind of surveillance should be standard on the demand list of every union, if not at a federal level. Workers need to firmly say no.
On the one hand, monitoring mood/relationships (edit: or whatever the fuck makes culture) is crossing a massive overreaching Big Brother line. On the other, I'd be deeply amused by the idea of upper management/exco at my org to receive a report about the degree of sarcasm amongst my coworkers expressing how fucking over various things we are. At some point, you've got to simply let the bs roll off you, and we tend to blow off steam with some healthy humour/banter/sarcasm.
Not that we're stupid, we leave the juicy conversations for personal calls/whatsapp chats or in person.
I've seen a couple health-related apps/surveys/programs rolled out at my workplace, in part through an internal effort, and in part through our health insurance provider.
The thing is, they aren't mandatory. Instead, they're marketed as added benefits, or even offer incentives like extra health-spending dollars.
I don't know their adoption rates, but I do know people love 'free' shit. I do too, but am aware enough to be suspicious of their real purpose, so refuse to take part.
Not sure where Im going with this, other than being a reminder that invasions of privacy arent always immediately scary and authoritarian sounding; they're often wrapped up all pretty so they seem like a benefit or convenience.
Indeed. The whole smart home movement features technology that will phone home to corporate headquarters with your data for unknown purposes.
By the time this tech is being rolled out to run-of-the-mill employees, it's already too late. We need system administrators who give a damn to put their foot down so it never get distributed in the first place.
Or have sys-admins roll it out to senior leadership and management, and let others scrutinise their actions before forcing it on employees?
Sysadmins are also salary dependent employees. In every organization, go along to get along is the typical work attitude. Plenty of people are willing to work as prison guards, or in times of slavery, overseers.
It would be interesting to see a survey of how many people quit rather than participate in implementing such policies. I also wonder if there were nda's in place to prevent publicizing it.