Corporate Surveillance: When Employers Collect Data on Their Workers (cnbc.com) 54
An anonymous reader quotes CNBC:
The emergence of sensor and other technologies that let businesses track, listen to and even watch employees while on company time is raising concern about corporate levels of surveillance... Earlier this year, Amazon received a patent for an ultrasonic bracelet that can detect a warehouse worker's location and monitor their interaction with inventory bins by using ultrasonic sound pulses. The system can track when and where workers put in or remove items from the bins. An Amazon spokesperson said the company has "no plans to introduce this technology" but that, if implemented in the future, could free up associates' hands, which now hold scanners to check and fulfill orders.
Walmart last year patented a system that lets the retail giant listen in on workers and customers. The system can track employee "performance metrics" and ensure that employees are performing their jobs efficiently and correctly by listening for sounds such as rustling of bags or beeps of scanners at the checkout line and can determine the number of items placed in bags and number of bags. Sensors can also capture sounds from guests talking while in line and determine whether employees are greeting guests. Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg said the company doesn't have any immediate plans to implement the system.
Logistics company UPS has been using sensors in their delivery trucks to track usage to make sure drivers are wearing seat belts and maintenance is up to date.
Companies are also starting to analyze digital data, such as emails and calendar info, in the hopes of squeezing more productivity out of their workers. Microsoft's Workplace Analytics lets employers monitor data such as time spent on email, meeting time or time spent working after hours. Several enterprises, including Freddie Mac and CBRE, have tested the system.
A senior staff attorney for the EFF argues that new consumer privacy laws may not apply to employees. The article also cites a recent survey by Accenture in which 62% of executives "said their companies are using new technologies to collect data on people -- from the quality of work to safety and well-being" -- even though "fewer than a third said they feel confident they are using the data responsibly."
Yet the leader of Accenture's talent and organization practice argues that workforce data "could boost revenue by 6.4%. This has encouraged workers to be open to responsible use of data, but they want to know that they will get benefits and return on their time."
Walmart last year patented a system that lets the retail giant listen in on workers and customers. The system can track employee "performance metrics" and ensure that employees are performing their jobs efficiently and correctly by listening for sounds such as rustling of bags or beeps of scanners at the checkout line and can determine the number of items placed in bags and number of bags. Sensors can also capture sounds from guests talking while in line and determine whether employees are greeting guests. Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg said the company doesn't have any immediate plans to implement the system.
Logistics company UPS has been using sensors in their delivery trucks to track usage to make sure drivers are wearing seat belts and maintenance is up to date.
Companies are also starting to analyze digital data, such as emails and calendar info, in the hopes of squeezing more productivity out of their workers. Microsoft's Workplace Analytics lets employers monitor data such as time spent on email, meeting time or time spent working after hours. Several enterprises, including Freddie Mac and CBRE, have tested the system.
A senior staff attorney for the EFF argues that new consumer privacy laws may not apply to employees. The article also cites a recent survey by Accenture in which 62% of executives "said their companies are using new technologies to collect data on people -- from the quality of work to safety and well-being" -- even though "fewer than a third said they feel confident they are using the data responsibly."
Yet the leader of Accenture's talent and organization practice argues that workforce data "could boost revenue by 6.4%. This has encouraged workers to be open to responsible use of data, but they want to know that they will get benefits and return on their time."
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Consider this an opportunity.
They are replacing middle managers with electronics, that can be owned and used to feed the bastards what you want them to see, while you watch porn all day.
_All_ metrics will be gamed. The bad ones will be gamed to death. Don't you wish you worked for an employer that gave fat bonuses based on LOC? I know I do. Sure beats actually coding (not really, I like to code, but you get the point). CRLFs are cheap.
Simply cutting out lower-middle management (Score:3)
If you have a good manager, they already know all those things, they don't need metrics to tell them an employee is slacking off.
This is just a step towards reduction/automation of the non-decision making managerial/supervisory job. There are both benefits and drawbacks from an employers perspective, on one side you can now accurately prove that termination wasn't wrongful, but on the other hand, the metrics could be gamed and subsequently protect slackers if you can't consistently apply those metrics toward terminations.
Basically we're going toward pure transactional-based employment where the mechanics of your job are more important than the actual result, much like the unions of yore did and it will result in massive waste.
Re: Simply cutting out lower-middle management (Score:2, Informative)
Meanwhile upper management is having three martini meetings at the country club three times a week. We all aspire to cushy do-nothing jobs like the big bosses. Sorry if that bothers their fat, lazy asses. You lead by example.
AE911Truth Org
Re: Simply cutting out lower-middle management (Score:2)
GM and Ford still exist. Going through the motions will still produce a shit product that people may buy - either at gunpoint like the tax funded Ford Interceptor that needs a full rebuild to be functional or because government subsidies and bailouts makes it the cheapest product around. China likewise makes crap products cheap, as long as it's cheaper than doing something else, people don't care.
1984 is not a blueprint for spying on everyone (Score:1)
The sooner that Big Business realises this and realises that we are human just like them then the better,
In the meantime I won't be buying anything from these scumbag companies. The more of us that vote with our feet the better.
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The sooner that Big Business realises this and realises that we are human just like them then the better,
It seems to be human nature. Some group of humans asserts that they are elevated in status compared to the other humans beneath them. Therefore, certain rules apply to slaves and others apply to their masters. The masters convince the slaves that the slaves need the masters for this and that. This is the way divine providence has worked all throughout history. The only way that slavery works is by convincing the slaves that they are slaves and have no power. If only the slaves realized they have all t
This is an update on the time clock (Score:2)
This is the next generation of time clocks. Lots of employees still have to punch in and out (even if there is no longer a punch). In many jobs, accurate measures of productivity (more than just punched in hours) can help manage and improve productivity. Good stats can identify bottlenecks (are employees waiting for the "next unit" of work to arrive, or are there too many employees handling type "A" work and type "B' is accumulating. The data is valuable and can help create more of a meritocracy among emp
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I would refuse the wristband (Score:5, Interesting)
What an underperforming employee you are, not participating in the continuous improvement strategies at place here. I guess you're just not the kind of team player we wish to have working here. We're putting you on a formal improvement plan: Step 1, wear the bracelet. You only get the opportunity to be improved once as there are many candidates queued up outside.
I'm only being partially facetious here. Tracking bracelets are borderline absurd but where do you draw the line? We did a job at a chemical plant in Germany recently which involved a lengthy incident investigation into something nearly burning down and killing someone. When we interviewed the operator on the day every question we asked him he looked at his boss, despite the fact the point here is not to blame the people but to determine what process let the incident happen. It was a waste of frigging time. Anyway we should be able to get what we need from the data in the control system. ... No acknowledgement of alarms were logged, no outputs to valves were logged, no operator changes were logged. Apparently doing so is "monitoring of an employee".
What a frigging disgrace. Incident investigation conclusion: We have no idea what caused the incident, we have no idea how to avoid it happening again, we hope that next time the people involved are as lucky as they were this time or you're going to kill someone.
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Once I'm 'off the job', that bracelet/tracking device goes into the Walmart locker. I will not be monitored while not on the job. That is my personal time.
That I can definitely get behind.
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This is because managers are stupid. They don't understand that the value of surveillance is largely in catching thieves and firing bad workers.
Instead, they want to use the threat of being fired for being a bad worker to bully the workers into doing better. That's because of the stupidity of ignorance; eg, it is human nature for an uneducated person to expect that to work if you make them a supervisor. But it doesn't. Good employees should never have to interact with the surveillance, except that when it i
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I hear Jacob Marley doesn't need his chains anymore. They could use those.
your car can spy on you too (Score:2)
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You could always learn how electronics work up to the level where you can follow a "do-it-yourself" maker guide, then you can solder it yourself, install the software yourself. You don't have to learn how to program or anything, you can download open source software that does whatever you need the tool to do; and only that, no apps.
At Walmart (Score:2)
At Walmart:”BE NICE OR ELSE!”
Why? (Score:2)
To see if people meet together to create a union.
Is a worker really a journalist sneaking around a company?
A new worker is an undercover police officer?
Industrial espionage?
Why is a worker doing what looks like pen testing tasks in parts of a building they have no work related reason to be in?
Is a worker showing "friends" around a building?
Leaving early every Friday and not a work on Monday? But a colleague always covers and ensures the "worker" was digitally "working"
Just remember - Turnabout is fair play (Score:2)
2017 - Whole Foods lost an appeal where they were banning employees from making recordings (photo/video/audio) in the work place. Simply put, it's individual state laws which decided whether it's legal or not.
Also, federal courts have upheld that once an employee is on the clock their cell phone usage isn't considered private. This includes phone calls, tweets, web searches, anything. And this goes for your boss as well!
So Mr./Mrs. Management 101, let's take a look at how productive you've been.
A Brave New Worid ... (Score:1)
... has a new system for slavery and control.