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Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#31

Post by thaumasiotes »

Loughla wrote: post #19
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #8

So, they basically treated people like low-level employees at a call center in the US? This sort of thing isn't actually new. Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft - including theft of company time spent talking to other employees. Are you a call center employee that has to go poop often that day or are 3 minutes late from break? Expect a call from HR for the bathroom br…

>Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft In my history, before finding my terminal career, I worked retail management. I worked for a chain that is no longer open, so I'm fairly certain I can say whatever I want about it now. I was fast-tracked for upper-level corporate management (I think it was the combination of not-giving-a-fuck based on depression and low-grade sociop…

I'm not sure "Want a raise? Start stealing!" is the greatest incentive structure...

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#32

Post by riazrizvi »

> Campaign group Privacy International said: "Data protection rules are very clear, strict and do not allow employers to carry out such monitoring unless they are able to prove that this is strictly necessary and proportionate and it does not severely impact employees' rights.

Is this an EU or UK thing? Does anyone know the law implied?

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#33

Post by ska »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #31
Loughla wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft In my history, before finding my terminal career, I worked retail management. I worked for a chain that is no longer open, so I'm fairly certain I can say whatever I want about it now. I was fast-tracked for upper-level corporate management (I think it was the combination of not-giving-a-fuck based on depression and low-grade sociop…

I'm not sure "Want a raise? Start stealing!" is the greatest incentive structure...

Otoh "Want employee loyalty? Start treating them reasonably." probably is.

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#34

Post by nonbirithm »

GordonS wrote: post #13
jamestanderson wrote: post #5

> In a statement, the bank said: "We always intended to listen to colleague feedback as part of this limited pilot which was intended to tackle issues such as individual over-working as well as raise general productivity." Riiiight.

If they intended to listen, or indeed cared an iota about their employees, they wouldn't have rolled this out in the first place. This level of intrusive monitoring would very clearly be hated by those it monitored, and make then feel very uncomfortable. Seriously, in this day and age, how on earth did this get enough support at the management level to pilot it?

> Seriously, in this day and age, how on earth did this get enough support at the management level to pilot it?

They valued maximizing the amount of profit one worker produces over privacy.

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#35

Post by factsaresacred »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #30

At work, my staff (20ish developers) usually clock in/out sharp bcoz of attendance, but they take 2+ hours lunch break and ~1hr for prayer breaks (2x within work hour), which I don't mind. But what frustrates me is their work is slow and low quality (not everyone), and I do thought about "short term" tracking like this. Thoughts? (I just joined, so I "inherited" this)

'2 hours lunch break and 1hr for prayer breaks' and the work is low quality.

You don't need to track those people, you need to replace them.

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#36

Post by pietrovismara »

sidlls wrote: post #26
Loughla wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft In my history, before finding my terminal career, I worked retail management. I worked for a chain that is no longer open, so I'm fairly certain I can say whatever I want about it now. I was fast-tracked for upper-level corporate management (I think it was the combination of not-giving-a-fuck based on depression and low-grade sociop…

What was the cost difference? Did the shrink reduction exceed the $3/hr raise in value but not by enough? Or was the raise not offset at all by the reduction?

In the end who cares, everyone would have been way happier without resorting to big brothery solutions and solving anyway he problem. But no, we gotta chase that additional profit at the cost of any other metric!

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#37

Post by pietrovismara »

ska wrote: post #33
thaumasiotes wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure "Want a raise? Start stealing!" is the greatest incentive structure...

Otoh "Want employee loyalty? Start treating them reasonably." probably is.

You don't treat reasonably your tools. That's how some companies see their employees.

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#38

Post by everdrive »

Loughla wrote: post #19
Broken_Hippo wrote: post #8

So, they basically treated people like low-level employees at a call center in the US? This sort of thing isn't actually new. Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft - including theft of company time spent talking to other employees. Are you a call center employee that has to go poop often that day or are 3 minutes late from break? Expect a call from HR for the bathroom br…

>Those cameras in retail stores are, first and foremost, used to track employee theft In my history, before finding my terminal career, I worked retail management. I worked for a chain that is no longer open, so I'm fairly certain I can say whatever I want about it now. I was fast-tracked for upper-level corporate management (I think it was the combination of not-giving-a-fuck based on depression and low-grade sociop…

So you're saying retail is offensive the moral sensibilities of a sociopath?

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#39

Post by speedgoose »

factsaresacred wrote: post #35
wiradikusuma wrote: post #30

At work, my staff (20ish developers) usually clock in/out sharp bcoz of attendance, but they take 2+ hours lunch break and ~1hr for prayer breaks (2x within work hour), which I don't mind. But what frustrates me is their work is slow and low quality (not everyone), and I do thought about "short term" tracking like this. Thoughts? (I just joined, so I "inherited" this)

'2 hours lunch break and 1hr for prayer breaks' and the work is low quality. You don't need to track those people, you need to replace them.

A 2 hours lunch break is the standard in France.

Re: Barclays scraps 'Big Brother' staff tracking system within one week

#40

Post by natalyarostova »

wiradikusuma wrote: post #30

At work, my staff (20ish developers) usually clock in/out sharp bcoz of attendance, but they take 2+ hours lunch break and ~1hr for prayer breaks (2x within work hour), which I don't mind. But what frustrates me is their work is slow and low quality (not everyone), and I do thought about "short term" tracking like this. Thoughts? (I just joined, so I "inherited" this)

I'm not a manager, but if I were I'd probably try to track their goals and projects foremost, and let them manage their time under those constraints.
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