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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

#121

Post by Scoundreller »

megablast wrote: post #114
refurb wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of hard to sneak out a 20 lb rack of ribs or 50 lb bag of rice.

Not really, put it in the bin, collect outside later. And how is that any different to other stores? Does costco not sell chocolate or tampons or things that are easy to steal? Even if in big packages, break it open, it goes out the back.

Maybe for small stuff. But the bins are well locked up for that reason. The garbage goes out in a sealed bin accessible only within the store. Returns get palletized for 3rd party resale and then forklifted into a trailer.

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

#122

Post by falcolas »

derefr wrote: post #107
nabnob wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. How do Palantir engineers sleep at night? Later in the article, it describes how LAPD uses Palantir software - tracking almost everyone in poor neighborhoods at all times. All of this use is completely without warrants, and the police know to avoid mentioning Palantir in court documents so that its use won't be challanged.

> All of this use is completely without warrants Do you need a warrant to stake out a public place and write down everything you see? I get the impression that that's the analogous non-automated workload. (Except for the scale; to get equivalent results, you'd have to have thousands of people watching.)

It's worth considering that the scale argument is exactly why it didn't require a warrant before. If you only have the man power to invade the privacy of ten people, you'll do so with thought and diligence.

However, if you can use the same manpower to invade the privacy of ten- or one-hundred-thousand people, the thought put into who you monitor so closely drops precipitously.

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

#123

Post by scottmcf »

Sharlin wrote: post #76
tudelo wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wait, you don't think low work quality is a reasonable reason to fire someone?

In many countries it is not.

Where, and how do they handle someone who can't do the job properly?

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

#124

Post by Ididntdothis »

redwall_hp wrote: post #100
ska wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Company pays minimum wage. Employees give minimum effort. Company: shockedpikachu.jpg

Paying more only motivates higher level people. Lower level only respond to the stick. That’s how a lot of people seem to think.

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

#125

Post by pietrovismara »

megablast wrote: post #113
pietrovismara wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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!

I mean, the business cares how much profits they make. If it was cost effective, it is easier to justify moving it to other stores.

That's my point. Businesses care only about profit, even when its clearly detrimental to everyone else. There's no consideration for happiness or quality of life and no ethic if you only chase profit. For how much we've been pushed to believe this is perfecly normal, to me it's insane.

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

#126

Post by magduf »

EpicEng wrote: post #110
derefr wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> All of this use is completely without warrants Do you need a warrant to stake out a public place and write down everything you see? I get the impression that that's the analogous non-automated workload. (Except for the scale; to get equivalent results, you'd have to have thousands of people watching.)

>Except for the scale; to get equivalent results, you'd have to have thousands of people watching. Which is the only thing that matters. Sure, warrants aren't necessary, but the concept of mass, automated surveillance is so new that we simply haven't figured out what to do about it yet.

>Sure, warrants aren't necessary, but the concept of mass, automated surveillance is so new that we simply haven't figured out what to do about it yet.

We haven't? It seems like we have: we're embracing it wholeheartedly. We're just careful to only use it (for now) on groups of people who don't have much power to push back on it.

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

#127

Post by scottmcf »

Mangalor wrote: post #43
Ididntdothis wrote: post #27

I am pretty sure this will come back just slightly modified. And other companies will do the same. It will be really hard to stop the trend toward total surveillance. It gets cheaper and cheaper every year and more capable.

What should be the response of workers?

Down tools.

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

#128

Post by scottmcf »

jandrese wrote: post #120
Mountain_Skies wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's weird that exempt employees can be required to clock in and out. My current employer does this but claims it for tracking capital vs operational expenses and has nothing to do with productivity or policy enforcement. I'm rather skeptical. One thing is for sure, the definition of what constitutes an exempt employee has expanded far beyond its original intent.

I'm exempt and have to do a timecard because of how we bill projects internally.

Very common if you're handling government contracts/etc. too. Often a requirement.

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

#129

Post by scottmcf »

Scoundreller wrote: post #117
refurb wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of hard to sneak out a 20 lb rack of ribs or 50 lb bag of rice.

Could just scan out your friends and “miss” scanning some items for a cut. Or “overlook” their 20lb of ribs scanning as 20lb of rice. Can’t do it entirely because of the exit checks, but the checks aren’t 100%. Though when buying a gift card, they don’t let you pick it off the rack: you get a receipt to ask someone else.

This is what gets referred to as "sweethearting".

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

#130

Post by uk_programmer »

megablast wrote: post #116
uk_programmer wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This actually happens a lot in call centres. This is why I am very polite to those on the phones because I know they are likely to be working in a horrid office.

I am polite to all people because it is the right thing to do, I don't even worry about whether they have a horrid office or no.

You should notice that I qualified it with "very".
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