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“I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

bbc.co.uk

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Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#21

Post by mrweasel »

I worked for a company with a UK department, the UK boss would routinely use similar software to check that people where actually working and doing things correctly.

The Scandinavian bosses opted to just trust everyone to do the right thing and people always would.

Interestingly enough if was always the British employees who would do things like steal customer contact lists when they left or do deals on the side, so I suppose they had a reason to not trust people.

While I don't think spying on your employees is acceptable, I was also extremely disappointed in the behavior of my British colleagues.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#24

Post by lambdasquirrel »

mrweasel wrote: post #21

I worked for a company with a UK department, the UK boss would routinely use similar software to check that people where actually working and doing things correctly. The Scandinavian bosses opted to just trust everyone to do the right thing and people always would. Interestingly enough if was always the British employees who would do things like steal customer contact lists when they left or do deals on the side, so…

There's also, to some degree, people acting according to the expectations that are set for them. Having run up against that myself, there is frequently no point fighting that expectation. It's better just to either play that game, or leave.

Oftentimes in a low-trust environment, you just do things in order to survive. Need to run a critically important errand or pick up the kids? I'd see parents skirting around things all the time. No one gave them crap for it, because we all knew it was just life. I'd suspect your British employees are living in some part of society that is low-trust.

I've usually chosen to leave situations where there was no use fighting expectations. We don't get to set that culture. To some degree, cultural context matters, and to some degree, it also comes from the top.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#25

Post by helsinkiandrew »

ghoshbishakh wrote: post #19
helsinkiandrew wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pay for work not time spent on the computer This is the right solution, but of course is harder for some occupations - call center, sewing buttons, and more mundane work. Where 'bad' employers can push up the amount of work expected.

For your specific examples it is much more easier to monitor the amount of work done.

Yes, but with bad employers that can often result in 'wage deflation' where the amount of buttons sewn or marketing calls made required gets larger and larger - which can often result in overworked and very stressed workers - there's been quite a few cases in call centers in the last few years.

When workers are paid per piece directly it can sometimes mean they will be paid less than the minimum wage.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#29

Post by will_pseudonym »

Hokusai wrote: post #13
kjakm wrote: post #4

I've experienced this kind of software working on an hourly contract via UpWork. It would take screenshots at random points in 10 minute intervals, and would track number of mouse clicks/key presses. I think everything was logged officially at the end of the day so if you happened to be on a personal site during the screenshot you could delete it and you'd lose those 10 minutes from the total number of hours you had…

> it didn't feel as dystopian as it sounds My mother grew up in a dictatorship, and most of the time is like any other country. People would come on vacations and they will not even notice any difference. The only problem is when you get into problems, then you have no recourse. Dystopias in movies are felt each minute of the day, real dystopias are not like that. You should read Kafka's "The Process". Everything is…

> Kafka's "The Process"

This is also known as "The Trial"[0]. Just a fantastic, brutal work.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#30

Post by nilsb »

mrweasel wrote: post #21

I worked for a company with a UK department, the UK boss would routinely use similar software to check that people where actually working and doing things correctly. The Scandinavian bosses opted to just trust everyone to do the right thing and people always would. Interestingly enough if was always the British employees who would do things like steal customer contact lists when they left or do deals on the side, so…

I'd argue that workplaces where people are micromanaged and monitored tend to attract people who are either willing to adapt to these circumstances or are OK with gaming the system for their own benefit ("clearly my employer doesn't value my privacy, so why should I value theirs?").

Meanwhile people who thrive on getting things done their way without interference find work elsewhere.

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