Data & Society just published a report entitled Workplace Monitoring & Surveillance:
New technologies are enabling more varied and pervasive monitoring and surveillance practices in the workplace. This monitoring is becoming increasingly intertwined with data collection as the basis for surveillance, performance evaluation, and management. Monitoring and surveillance tools are collecting new kinds of data about workers, enabling quantification of activities or personal qualities that previously may not have been tracked in a given workplace—expanding the granularity, scale, and tempo of data collection. Moreover, workplace monitoring and surveillance can feed automated decision-making and inform predictions about workers' future behaviors, their skills or qualities, and their fitness for employment. Monitoring and surveillance can shift power dynamics between workers and employers, as an imbalance in access to worker data can reduce negotiating power.
This explainer highlights four broad trends in employee monitoring and surveillance technologies:
- Prediction and flagging tools that aim to predict characteristics or behaviors of employees or that are designed to identify or deter perceived rule-breaking or fraud. Touted as useful management tools, they can augment biased and discriminatory practices in workplace evaluations and segment workforces into risk categories based on patterns of behavior.
- Biometric and health data of workers collected through tools like wearables, fitness tracking apps, and biometric timekeeping systems as a part of employer- provided health care programs, workplace wellness, and digital tracking work shifts tools. Tracking non-work-related activities and information, such as health data, may challenge the boundaries of worker privacy, open avenues for discrimination, and raise questions about consent and workers' ability to opt out of tracking.
- Remote monitoring and time-tracking used to manage workers and measure performance remotely. Companies may use these tools to decentralize and lower costs by hiring independent contractors, while still being able to exert control over them like traditional employees with the aid of remote monitoring tools. More advanced time-tracking can generate itemized records of on-the-job activities, which can be used to facilitate wage theft or allow employers to trim what counts as paid work time.
- Gamification and algorithmic management of work activities through continuous data collection. Technology can take on management functions, such as sending workers automated "nudges" or adjusting performance benchmarks based on a worker's real-time progress, while gamification renders work activities into competitive, game-like dynamics driven by performance metrics. However, these practices can create punitive work environments that place pressures on workers to meet demanding and shifting efficiency benchmarks.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:38AM (9 children)
Personally, I lean toward privacy, and the idea of workplace monitoring bothers me.
However, recently a 90 year old relative with Parkinson's couldn't live at home any more and needed 24/7 care at a nursing home. The treatment of residents at this particular skilled nursing facility is generally OK, but I keep getting reports of aides and/or nurses that are not as caring and gentle as they could be. The results are obvious, skin tears and bruises. Another was a frightened story of a shower aide that didn't bother to test water temp first (it went hot and cold alternately) and also pointed the stream of water directly at an open skin wound (ouch!!!) Of course this never happens when I'm around to witness the problem, the employees are on best behavior when I'm there.
Another complaint is the time for aides to appear after the call button is pressed. This one I actually witnessed a couple of times: an aide came into the room, turned off the call light, went back out of the room...and then took between a half hour and hour to return. While a facility manager told me the call light time is logged, clearly this "trick" by the aide makes it look like their response time is good, when it actually is terrible.
Some advanced monitoring might be just what is needed to keep these employees from ignoring and/or abusing their fragile charges? It might not even be that hard to do, I believe that the call light system is already tied into a cell phone app that tells the aides who is calling for assistance.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:56AM (2 children)
So you like privacy when you could get criticized for cutting corners, but you don't grant that to others. Natural feelings I guess - your bosses think the same way.
As for your 90 year old relative, strangers will never be "caring and gentle as they could be" as much as you. Just like you don't care as much about the company you work for as the owner does - you have no real stake in the matter.
If you and your relative could not accept the possibility of some inattentiveness by the caregivers, it may be best to have a family trip to Switzerland while he is still lucid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @08:55PM (1 child)
Interesting reaction, not sure why you were modded troll.
This is the OP and you make some good points...but there is a problem -- I own my own tiny company and my one associate works from his home, 15 minutes away by car. No monitoring going on here by the boss (me) or of the worker (he's an independent contractor and sets his own schedule.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:26PM
No problem - just is more likely for someone to be an employee than an employer.
I did get modded touché before I got hit with flamebait and troll. There's a troop of assholes on this site that has nothing better to do than downmod opinions they don't like in block, most often seen with posts in semi-support of President Trump's policies. And, while I was rather blunt with the Switzerland trip, that would be what I want for myself if I feel my quality and control of life was to disappear.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:50AM
they probably shoud just make legal that after the expert system spits the fate of the exploited engineer (doesn't matter if white, indian, african or whatever because working class people need to sell themselves. but it means progress right?) he can voluntarily sign up for social retraining by wearing an electroshock necklace. bluetooth, wifi, gps and 5G enabled for finer grain detail and reporting
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:52AM (2 children)
Spying on nursing-home workers might help, but what would really help would be to un-fuck society so that the elderly aren't abandoned to the mercies of low-wage-no-benefits-mostly-temporary workers by their progeny in their time of need. I don't care if I have to cook, clean, bathe, wipe, and change employers for them, my parents aren't going slowly die isolated and alone.
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:10PM
Yes, but are you willing to quit your job for them? There are some elderly conditions which require round-the-clock care, not necessarily every second but interval care of an hour or two at most.
And have you ever been a caregiver for someone on a truly long-term basis / experienced caregiver fatigue, and do you have a plan for that?
I'm not dissing your attitude - the world could use more people like you, and also a support system geared around such instances. However, there are cases sometimes where seeking professional caregiving is your best option. And while people can have the best of intentions, complications can ensue.
And I'd really bet that spying on the caregivers wouldn't help in most cases. Outright abuse aside (which can happen and I'm not trying to sugarcoat it), the reality is that staffing is always cut to the absolute barest minimum it needs to be to deliver a certain level of care. More expensive care facilities can indeed afford more staff and the care can be better, but even there one will find a bean counter. And they don't always look for "how to make the most profit," but rather most of the time it is, "how to make any kind of profit at all."
This sig for rent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:12PM
> ...my parents aren't going slowly die isolated and alone.
A noble goal and I certainly hope you are able to follow through. However, what will happen if you are disabled or die before they do? The old way was to have many kids and hope that a few outlast the parents, but most families don't do things that way anymore. It's not all that rare (but very sad) for parents to bury one or more of their kids.
This is the OP with relative in nursing home. In the case I described, the kids (one retirement age, the other on disability with mental issues) were taking care of the parent at home until the workload burned them out and they had little choice but to get outside help.
In my case, I have no kids, can I sign up to be your "parent" when I need home care?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:20PM
It's a very tough call, as skin tears and bruises can also be natural consequences of aging. I've seen them happen from people just shifting position in bed. That's why it does take proof. Plus mistakes can happen and anecdotes can run wild, muddying the waters even further. But there have been cases before of concerned families placing concealed cameras in rooms to catch genuine abuse. Sad that it takes that, but that is indeed what it takes sometimes. When it's a genuine patient safety concern there isn't much defense for not monitoring (except for patient privacy) and some hospitals now have in-room video monitoring available.
With that aide: Do you suppose the aide went off and starting perusing Facebook? Or is it more likely that the aide was taking care of ten other things at that moment and the response was de-prioritized. It's a sort of tit-for-tat game with management sometimes, because they certainly won't hire more aides or nurses if those call light increases are happening. Instead the workers won't get raises, or will be replaced with fresh blood that isn't burnt out. It also comes down to understanding what the call light represents... Is it truly a license for a client to have people drop everything they're doing and attend to that person's needs, or do staff need to have latitude in prioritizing whose needs come first? Call light goes off, client is checked to make sure that this isn't an emergency or serious medical need, then is prioritized for service as available. (The aide still should have acknolwedged the person and let him or her know that it would be a little bit). Because if there were enough staff to handle every light as they go off, I will guarantee that the unit will have it's staffing level cut back. This, despite the new generation of trying to utilize patient satisfaction as a care measure despite insurers not throwing anything into the pot monetarily to drive levels higher.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Wednesday March 13 2019, @04:14PM
Do you really think the nursing home management doesn't know that the response time is terrible? They probably arrange that every new hire is instructed in how to improve their "response time" stats.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Informative) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:10AM (1 child)
We already had the cameras. Taking pictures of the sidewalk, of the folks on the sidewalks, in case something bad happens. Like what happened at my Inauguration, the horrible protest. Or what happened to Seth Rich (RIP!!). Exact same cameras. But now, they don't just get piped to the White House "tapes." We still make "tapes." But, we put in the new, and very special cyber of Facial Recognition.
We found some Secret Service guys that wanted to volunteer for getting scanned into the data bank of the computer. And whenever one of our volunteers comes to work, or leaves, the computer goes bing! Because it recognized the Face Pic. And that one's working great, very soon we'll connect it to the driver license & passport data banks. Possibly Facebook -- they have so many faces, right? Interpol. And we're going to put that one in our gorgeous National Parks, it's going to be a great crimestoper. Look what happened at Joshua Tree Park -- never again! Although, it's going to be a lot of bings. Because it will recognize almost everybody it sees. And the ones it doesn't bing for, possibly will be the most interesting!!! washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/5/dhs-testing-facial-recognition-technology-outside- [washingtontimes.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @10:10AM
One more thing, connect it to an automated response system from the 'cyber' facial recognition and voilà! Hail to the magnificien computer! Smile or get ripped! XD
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @11:00AM (1 child)
It's illegal here in Germany ... yet somehow magically German economy seems to be doing ok.
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday March 13 2019, @02:18PM
Germany used to have a tremendous monitoring & surveillance industry. It employed hundreds of thousands of people -- that's lot of jobs. All agree it was the best in the world. Sorry, it's not the best anymore. Although, we love what inMotion is doing!!
(Score: 3, Funny) by acid andy on Wednesday March 13 2019, @12:59PM (7 children)
People should make a stand against this. Complain to their employer and leave if it isn't discontinued. Dignity is more important than a living.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday March 13 2019, @03:14PM (2 children)
Why's it funny?
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:18PM (1 child)
It's very difficult to look dignified, if you're homeless.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Wednesday March 13 2019, @06:43PM
That's a very fair point and not something I would want to make light of. I'm pretty sure though that there are employees quietly accepting this fate that do have other, better options because I've seen the attitudes. The unquestioning acceptance of their employer's authority. Self-employment for those that can manage it would be better than this. If everyone kicked back against this sort of thing, it wouldn't be workable. The norm is compliant drones though, so it just gets worse and worse.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday March 13 2019, @07:17PM (3 children)
There we go. Maybe we can start by complaining to EU leaders first and see if they can apply pressure on the US to support these laws. I say they bundle it in with the landmine ban and mandating micro-USB.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by acid andy on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:14PM
You said it better. Thank you. Complaining to employers can work sometimes too but they need to find you somewhat indispensable and actually be capable of conducting a conversation with a lesser employee, so I guess that rules most out.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:15PM (1 child)
. . . . . . . . . why would you want to mandate micro-USB? I would absolutely love a connector standard that didn't require me to line-up the connector perfectly, every time. From what I understand USB-C achieves that, and there's no upside down/right side up issue.
The landmine issue isn't an issue as the USA isn't the problem. As far as I can tell, the landmine treaty is just a bunch of people sitting around trying to make each other feel good. Unless I've misunderstood it and they've actually done something with regards to those who've signed the treaty, but don't adhere to it.
Workplace monitoring/surveillance is a sticky subject by comparison. At what point is the individuals' freedom being infringed, if their goals don't match up with the employer's? Sure, it may be draconian and counterproductive, but that doesn't necessitate illegality. Whereas in certain areas of employment, monitoring and/or surveillance is very much needed. How do you feel about the body-cameras for policemen/law enforcement? What about security cameras in a bank? Computer monitoring in the FBI/CIA/NSA heard quarters? Why should there be special exceptions for those professions only? Workplace monitoring/surveillance has it's place, but it can also be abused. Happy employees are productive employees, and constantly watching over their shoulders won't make them happy.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday March 13 2019, @09:32PM
It won't, but it will probably select for a workforce that is happy with it, acts happy with it, or is willing to tolerate and/or adapt to it. Ugh, that sounds awful once I actually said it out loud.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 13 2019, @05:51PM
Searchable Log of All Communication and Knowledge
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 14 2019, @01:55PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylorism [wikipedia.org] (yes, quite bad article but at least it introduces the concept...)