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Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

wsj.com

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Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#121

Post by jowsie »

sitkack wrote: post #72
rapind wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, and bring it on. If this becomes a thing then I'll run a platform you can outsource your busy time in a VM to. This sounds like a ton of fun TBH and makes me think of game automation. Evolving into a game of cat and mouse and giving me an excuse to spend more time messing w/ OpenAI.

This is how the AI takes over, we automate ourselves in silly ways. How do we know we aren't bots doing someone else's work?

Bob was one step ahead of us all

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/01/16/169528579...

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#122

Post by BrandoElFollito »

This would be completely illegal in France.

Beside the fact that an individual tracking requires the employee to be informed of the fact and that the company must jump through hoops to have this registered - you coukd end up screenshooting private activities.

They are allowed on company devices and company time, and they are protected.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#123

Post by mititelu »

ericjang wrote: post #76

Hypothetical question: if your employer offered you the option of extra compensation to install keyloggers/screen capture software on your work computer, and you know that the logs are only being used for aggregate productivity statistics of the firm (de-anonymized), how much do you think would be a fair price? Assumption: you use a separate computer for your personal computing needs not related to work.

accept, reverse engineer, if data is aggregated - send spoofed randomised data, if not - just play back time I actually worked on slower speed and use a VM.

As for price, let them make an offer and see how valuable the data is for them.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#124

Post by benjohnson »

benjohnson wrote: post #106
dkersten wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it tied to time, instead of deliverables? I mean, if I work extra hard to get the days work done in 4 hours, why can’t I leave early compared to a co-worker who is working less focused and more slowly? I get that it’s not easy to set good milestones, and to keep it fair in terms of making sure everyone has approximately equal work, but I feel the same problems exist with required work “time” especially since i…

I limit our employees work to 40 hours a week so we don't have burn out. I want people to work hard and then go home. So far, so good: Our employees are constantly coming up with better ways of doing things - with less stress, hassle, and annoyance. Over the last three years, our works has gone from suffering 40 hours to an enjoyable but hard-working 40 hours. Our retention rate has gone from 40% to 95%.

I need to be explicit - it's timed to both time and deliverables. 40 hours of productive work - productivity is defines and delivering value to the customer. The customer can be internal.

We don't work overtime and only one person is on call (wait time is paid at time and a half) on Saturday.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#125

Post by benjohnson »

benjohnson wrote: post #106
dkersten wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is it tied to time, instead of deliverables? I mean, if I work extra hard to get the days work done in 4 hours, why can’t I leave early compared to a co-worker who is working less focused and more slowly? I get that it’s not easy to set good milestones, and to keep it fair in terms of making sure everyone has approximately equal work, but I feel the same problems exist with required work “time” especially since i…

I limit our employees work to 40 hours a week so we don't have burn out. I want people to work hard and then go home. So far, so good: Our employees are constantly coming up with better ways of doing things - with less stress, hassle, and annoyance. Over the last three years, our works has gone from suffering 40 hours to an enjoyable but hard-working 40 hours. Our retention rate has gone from 40% to 95%.

I need to be explicit - it's to both time and deliverables. 40 hours of productive work - productivity is defines and delivering value to the customer. The customer can be internal.

We don't work overtime and only one person is on call (wait time is paid at time and a half) on Saturday.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#126

Post by curryst »

WalterBright wrote: post #49

The trouble with taking screenshots is then you have to employ people to spend their day examining and evaluating the screenshots. Before computers could transcribe voice, the limiting factor of wiretapping is needing some poor schmuck who had to listen to all those utterly banal conversations, which has to be one of the worst jobs ever.

Not necessarily. You could probably catch 90% of people just by using some simple matching. The top social media sites have a pretty distinctive layout you could match on; and you can diff screenshots to catch people who are constantly AFK.

It's not going to catch someone who has put some thought into how to circumvent these, but it's enough to catch a lot of the non-HN people.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#127

Post by SecurityMinded »

And this is news how ? You are using a computer furnished by your employer and said emplyor has every right to monitor what uis being done on it in any way they can and want. My company uses ObserveIT and one of the features is to take screen captures, to be used in any way that company sees fit, now or later. If anyone has a problem, they can quit

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#128

Post by adultSwim »

askafriend wrote: post #46

I would quit the moment I found out something like this was being instituted. I think most companies that need to hire top talent know that these kinds of things drive away talent. So these practices tend to be relegated to a lower tier of companies/employers.

Most people don't have this luxury
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