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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”

#151

Post by bigbizisverywyz »

bootloop wrote: post #91
nip wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One day you come home and realize that you locked yourself out of your home. You call the locksmith. He arrives, looks at the door, fiddles with the lock for one minute, opens the door then leaves. The next day you receive the bill, 150€. Are you mad for spending so much for one minute of work? You shouldn’t: you paid for the experience that allowed him to open it in 1 minute. — Recalling it from a discussion with a…

Ha. In my case it was 700€, took 3 people and 3 hours, a crossbar broke in half and afterwards the security door needed to be replaced anyway (because at the end they cut it open with an angle grinder). All that at 1 o'clock in the morning. Nobody of the neighbors cared or called the police. 0/10, wouldn't recommend the experience to anyone else. I could have done the same for free. Fun fact: The companies boss pause…

I think after it became clear how much work that was going to be I would've considered forcing open a window instead.

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

#152

Post by Aeolun »

tingletech wrote: post #141
Lio wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the UK contractors actually have to be very careful to bill for deliverables and not just for time sitting on a seat. The HMRC's IR35 regulations would regard someone who just comes in and does whatever is asked of them as a "disguised employee" where as those who have fixed deliverables can be treated as external suppliers (even if they bill for the number of days it took to deliver). The difference is subtle but…

does that apply to uber drivers too?

I wouldn’t want my Uber driver to bill for number of days it took to deliver.

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

#153

Post by projektfu »

mrweasel wrote: post #119
tpmx wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Matches the data shown here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/self-reported-trust-attit...

China is kinda funny. Either the question was misunderstood, or they've answered what they know should be the right answer. Everyone I know who as been trained in dealing with Chinese suppliers or business partners is telling me that you can only trust the Chinese as long as their financial interests are aligned with yours.

I wonder how neighbors would answer those questions. Would Americans say Canadians are more trustworthy? Or would Colombians say that about Venezuelans?

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

#154

Post by Aeolun »

hellotomyrars wrote: post #83
aaron695 wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Pay for work not time spent on the computer And next week HN will love UBI. Many people are shit at their jobs and always will be. The current system with its messiness gets them money and self respect. I'm not against a hard world that hurts more people for the next century while we work towards utopia. But just be aware what you are advocating for. Cut throat gig contracts are different to the Fuck you, Pay me, i…

So how are you defining Utopia? What makes us reach the singularity that creates Utopia at the expense of people being miserable? Not a lot of money and self-respect in working min wage/dead end jobs. Plenty of people out on the streets who can’t even get a job. Not sure what you think Utopia is, but I fail to see how another century of a hard world that hurts people gets us there.

After a while I think you find out you’d rather have a minimum wage dead end job than no job at all.

Of course, if you can keep yourself busy, then that might be unnecessary. But I don’t think humans are made to simply be idle.

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

#155

Post by FriendlyNormie »

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…

No post body was provided.

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

#156

Post by engineeringwoke »

hellotomyrars wrote: post #87
AdhesiveWombat wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not every work is interesting enough to keep your employees motivated. For example, in the article they mention a company that resells beauty products. IMHO I can understand people not being incredibly motivated by this.

While I understand your point, there is a level of oppressive surveillance here that is unwarranted and unneeded. It shouldn’t be difficult to track the performance of the employee with metrics that are actually specific to the task they are hired to do (Number of listings/sales). Taking screenshots, tracking keystrokes and mouse movement? It’s extreme, and doesn’t even relate to the work they’re doing in a direct wa…

It's just Indian control/slave culture. Like the American/UK version but even more racist and fucked up.

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

#157

Post by marakv2 »

charlieda wrote: post #79
stiray wrote: post #34

I would just simply leave the company that trusts me so little that it needs to monitor what I am doing. In another words if company is so worried to squeeze the last drop of money out of employee to actually use such methods there is something wrong with it. I know one in our country that pays really good but employs such tactics. Developers are leaving on quarterly basis - not due to tactics but due to rotten relat…

And we should consider ourselves lucky as engineers that we work in an industry where we are so in demand that are able to do that. Workers in other industries (the article talks about a firm that re-sells beauty products) might not be so lucky.

This. I'm working as an ESL teacher and upper management made me install cameras in every classroom, then pipe that feed to their home and head office.

Couldn't afford to leave, so I had to do it. I've left now though when I finally lined up something better.

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

#158

Post by Aeolun »

C1sc0cat wrote: post #114
roel_v wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that make them bad employers? I would expect it to be quite logical that employers want to hire the best workers, where the 'best' is those who can process the most items. I used to work in a brush factory when I was a teenager (during school holidays). It was basically 8 hours of grabbing a metal clip and s row of brush hairs, slide the latter into the former, put the assembly under a press, put the result in a…

You just have to remember to slow down when the time and motion person is monitoring your work - its I known way of gaming the system. There's a lot of unwritten rules in factories - I recall being told about how when a big heavy engineering turbine or what have you was close to being delivered ,work slowed right down until the magic brown envelopes arrived. And my source commented even the tea boy got £750 - this wa…

Why would people get envelopes with money if a turbine was delivered?

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

#159

Post by jsjohnst »

williamdclt wrote: post #78
b3lvedere wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree with this, but it can't hurt to try and learn some of those tricks yourself. Some locks are surprisingly easy to open.

If I remembered to take my lockpicking tools when going out, I probably also remembered my keys!

I used to keep a rake and tensioner in my wallet. That simple kit is usually enough to get through common locks.

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

#160

Post by debtitor »

dspillett wrote: post #118
bryanrasmussen wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much the person who makes up all these amusing anecdotes about famous people having to quibble about their payment rate gets paid. Probably not enough.

The one we were told at University was the contractor who charged £5,000 for a few hours work fixing a design, which in the end took five pencil marks. When asked to break down the costs of the job he resubmitted the invoice as: 5x 1 pencil mark = 5x £1 = £5, 1x knowing where to make the marks = 1x £4,995 = £4,995, with an offer of a discount on future pencil marks if the invoice was paid promptly.

Also told as “$5 for the hammer, $4,995 for knowing where to hit it”.
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