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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

#101

I’m also in this business [1], the reality is everyone has to do it to compete. These systems help you fire bad apples, which could bring down your business. Personally started my company because I saw the lack of understanding and abuse of these systems. Not a single company I know of built their systems to increase retention. No matter what they claim, HR doesn’t really care about that - they care about bad apples.…

[deleted]

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#102
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…

> even including recording audio in the workplace There are some protections against recording people without their knowledge, even if you're in a workplace. > So maybe it's time for us to look for some legal protections for worker privacy? And documenting the (limited) protections that already exist.

> There are some protections against recording people without their knowledge, even if you're in a workplace.

So, bury the required notice inside the legalese of all that paperwork everyone has to sign when they get hired. They signed, so they know about it, right?

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#103
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Attacking a fellow user like that will get you banned here, regardless of how provocative their comment was or feels. Also, complaints about paywalls are off topic, so please don't post them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 . Yes, the paywalls suck, but these complaint threads are all the same. Readers don't come here for repetition, but to avoid it. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&typ…

Why do you allow paywalls though if people can't even read them? It's stupid. Just disallow the paywalled domains from being posted. It's not rocket science. If you think you actually have any control, do it.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#104
post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

points to a bigger issue: a complete lack of understanding of people. What makes you think they even want this kind of understanding? Not to mention the handwavey vagueness of "understanding people."

Psychology is the science of understanding people. There's also the burgeoning field of evolutionary psychology. There's nothing handwavey about any of it, at least when it's done well.

At a company like McKesson, the only psychology you're likely to encounter is organizational (I/O), and, like psychology in general, many many many people do not believe in it, do not see the value in it, and heed cultural barriers to changing these attitudes. To the degree that I/O psych is a factor in corporate life these days, the vast majority will be a form of Taylorism, which is 100+ years old.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#105

I’m also in this business [1], the reality is everyone has to do it to compete. These systems help you fire bad apples, which could bring down your business. Personally started my company because I saw the lack of understanding and abuse of these systems. Not a single company I know of built their systems to increase retention. No matter what they claim, HR doesn’t really care about that - they care about bad apples.…

In any case, is this a bad thing? I don’t know

If the benefit of catching a bad apple is less than the downside of 100+ pissed employees due to being spied on, it is a bad thing, specially when a few KPI can't give you an accurate view of an employee's performance or impact.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#106
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A surprising number of people in management seem to think "Oh, that'll make us very silicon valley and signal how cool & hip we are!" And a surprising number of people who haven't had to work in open offices before think "Oh, that'll be cool: social, innovative, and collaborative!"

In the UK almost all offices are open offices. I am not sure of the benefits of a cubicle as i never worked in one.

I worked in a cubicle when I did U.S. government IT. I can't tell any difference from the open plan offices I work in now that I'm in the private sector.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#107
post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Attacking a fellow user like that will get you banned here, regardless of how provocative their comment was or feels. Also, complaints about paywalls are off topic, so please don't post them: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 . Yes, the paywalls suck, but these complaint threads are all the same. Readers don't come here for repetition, but to avoid it. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&typ…

Why do you allow paywalls though if people can't even read them? It's stupid. Just disallow the paywalled domains from being posted. It's not rocket science. If you think you actually have any control, do it.

We allow paywalls that have workarounds. Workaround means people can read it. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 and https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html.

The reason we don't disallow all paywalls, but only the ones that have no workaround, is that HN would be much worse off without stories from the NYT, WSJ, Economist, New Yorker, and many others. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#108
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you allow paywalls though if people can't even read them? It's stupid. Just disallow the paywalled domains from being posted. It's not rocket science. If you think you actually have any control, do it.

We allow paywalls that have workarounds. Workaround means people can read it. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 and https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html . The reason we don't disallow all paywalls, but only the ones that have no workaround, is that HN would be much worse off without stories from the NYT, WSJ, Economist, New Yorker, and many others. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateR…

All I wanted via my original comment in this thread is the workaround. People like others and you offer a lot of advice, but not the workaround I sought. I don't want to have to read ten pages to find the workaround either.

Re: Employers are mining the data their workers generate

#109
post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We allow paywalls that have workarounds. Workaround means people can read it. Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10178989 and https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html . The reason we don't disallow all paywalls, but only the ones that have no workaround, is that HN would be much worse off without stories from the NYT, WSJ, Economist, New Yorker, and many others. https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateR…

All I wanted via my original comment in this thread is the workaround. People like others and you offer a lot of advice, but not the workaround I sought. I don't want to have to read ten pages to find the workaround either.

> All I wanted via my original comment in this thread is the workaround

In that case you could simply have asked for it.

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