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Employers are mining the data their workers generate

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Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#71

Post by jedberg »

MegaButts wrote: post #39
jedberg wrote: post #14

People keep forgetting that equipment and subscriptions are your employers property and data, not yours. They have the right to access anything they pay for without telling you. It's important to remain aware of this any time you do anything for work. Back before we had computers, there was nothing stopping a company from opening every memo that came through the mail room and recording every phone conversation and op…

> there was nothing stopping a company from opening every memo that came through the mail room I hope I'm misunderstanding this, because I read it as saying they can open your mail...which I thought was a felony taken very seriously.

They could open the internal company memos, not the stuff with stamps.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#72

Post by itronitron »

_o-O-o_ wrote: post #6

I know this is a cheap potshot, but who has a keyboard setup like that? https://images.wsj.net/im-90409?width=1260&size=0.6666666666... And the caption: Diana Hubbard, working from her home office in Texas, says she does not communicate about her private life on work devices at all. PHOTO: JONATHAN ZIZZO FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

on TV shows, when someone has that many keyboards then their desk is usually also inside a Faraday cage.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#73

Post by jedberg »

marcosdumay wrote: post #52
MegaButts wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there was nothing stopping a company from opening every memo that came through the mail room I hope I'm misunderstanding this, because I read it as saying they can open your mail...which I thought was a felony taken very seriously.

As well as bugging your phone. I don't think companies were ever allowed to do that.

Sure they could. It’s their phone. As long as they buried in the hiring paperwork that all calls were recorded your consent was part of your employment.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#74

Post by sologoub »

ben509 wrote: post #57
seneca wrote: post #5

The idea that McKesson does this, along with their completely tone deaf idea of adding open offices to increase retention, points to a bigger issue: a complete lack of understanding of people. These people running these companies are utterly detached from the reality that their work force lives day to day, such that they think implementing one of the most universally hated office schemes and mass surveillance are way…

> Such that they think implementing one of the most universally hated office schemes I'not sure open offices are so unpopular in practice. I suspect a handful of people with misophonia are passionately against them. A sizable minority think they makes work more fun, and the remainder are indifferent. As someone who loathes them myself, I read all kinds of articles about how awful they are. But that's how news works:…

There now studies that show it causes less collaboration, especially deep collaboration that requires ability to contemplate and speak freely.

Some of the studies: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.chicagotribune.com/business... https://www.oxfordeconomics.com/when-the-walls-come-down

Now, imagine you are measuring the collaboration by the amount of meetings and chats/email. Of course these increase if we can no longer chat in your office! Now I have to book time or send you a slack/chat/whatever because having a conversation now requires finding that private space.

So previously unmeasured collaboration is replaced with lower fidelity, but measurable collaboration.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#75

Post by b_tterc_p »

I don’t think this is especially bad though am perhaps biased. If anyone is curious about their own data, Office365 exposes a nice API to get email and calendar data, as well as one called “People” that calculates an edge strength to others based on the various things. You usually have permission to pull your own data without corporate involvement.

Perhaps to rephrase the question. I hear a lot of privacy concerns about something like Facebook that knows too much about you and calculates all sorts of things. I agree with those concerns. Are people equally concerned if a metadata analysis reveals that individuals who communicate with a wider network of other employees tend to do better or worse, or quit or whatever- and you are an anonymized part of the individuals that led to that conclusion?

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#76

Post by maccard »

Moru wrote: post #15
seneca wrote: post #5

The idea that McKesson does this, along with their completely tone deaf idea of adding open offices to increase retention, points to a bigger issue: a complete lack of understanding of people. These people running these companies are utterly detached from the reality that their work force lives day to day, such that they think implementing one of the most universally hated office schemes and mass surveillance are way…

The only reason a company switches to open offices is to save money, just like the removing of free sodas. The will claim any other reason officially though.

There's also the "It's what all the cool companies are doing" factor.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#77

Post by jrootabega »

ben509 wrote: post #57
seneca wrote: post #5

The idea that McKesson does this, along with their completely tone deaf idea of adding open offices to increase retention, points to a bigger issue: a complete lack of understanding of people. These people running these companies are utterly detached from the reality that their work force lives day to day, such that they think implementing one of the most universally hated office schemes and mass surveillance are way…

> Such that they think implementing one of the most universally hated office schemes I'not sure open offices are so unpopular in practice. I suspect a handful of people with misophonia are passionately against them. A sizable minority think they makes work more fun, and the remainder are indifferent. As someone who loathes them myself, I read all kinds of articles about how awful they are. But that's how news works:…

The freeloaders love it because it helps them goof off together and they have no need to concentrate because other people carry them

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#78

Post by b_tterc_p »

nickfromseattle wrote: post #70

IBM claims to be able to predict with 95% accuracy which employees will quit. This seems super helpful as an employer. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/03/ibm-ai-can-predict-with-95-p...

Without any insider information, I feel confident guessing that the accuracy number is merely % correct in environments where people quitting is relatively rare to begin with. If 95% of people aren’t planning to quit next year, 95% accuracy is remarkably easy to achieve.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#79

Post by wlesieutre »

president wrote: post #38
Moru wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only reason a company switches to open offices is to save money, just like the removing of free sodas. The will claim any other reason officially though.

Another valid reason is so management can monitor more people at one time and make sure they're working (busily typing away at their keyboard).

If you need a break, use http://hackertyper.net/ to appear super productive!

Because butts in chairs and fingers smushing keys is what's important.

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