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Many Employers Are Using Tools To Monitor Their Staff's Web-browsing Patterns, Keystrokes, Social Media Posts (theguardian.com)
Olivia Solon, reporting for The Guardian: How can an employer make sure its remote workers aren't slacking off? In the case of talent management company Crossover, the answer is to take photos of them every 10 minutes through their webcam. The pictures are taken by Crossover's productivity tool, WorkSmart, and combine with screenshots of their workstations along with other data -- including app use and keystrokes -- to come up with a "focus score" and an "intensity score" that can be used to assess the value of freelancers. Today's workplace surveillance software is a digital panopticon that began with email and phone monitoring but now includes keeping track of web-browsing patterns, text messages, screenshots, keystrokes, social media posts, private messaging apps like WhatsApp and even face-to-face interactions with co-workers. Crossover's Sanjeev Patni insists that workers get over the initial self-consciousness after a few days and accept the need for such monitoring as they do CCTV in shopping malls.
What if they're jacking it?
Love this concept. I hope they have shitter cams next and urinalysis toilets. I will feel so SAFE then. /s
Companies tend to be fascist institutions. You follow the leader, obey the hierarchy, and do what you are told. You have no input into how things work and are punished for deviating.
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
Instead of spying on them like three-letter agencies, how about blocking the domain names on your internal DNS? Surely the company's computers are locked down and they can't change them, right?
#DeleteFacebook
None of this is necessary. What's necessary is to set goals and then assess whether the goals are being achieved. If workers are on the clock, then you probably don't want them billing you if they're doing unrelated tasks. However, a good manager should have some idea how long tasks ought to take and be able to determine if the workers aren't productive. The surveillance is completely unnecessary. However, they are right about one thing. Just like Big Brother players, you tend to forget the surveillance is there after a few days.
A lot of freelance platforms have been doing this for years but it's not a reasonable solution.
You can't measure development productivity based on trackable "focus" and "intensity" scores because a lot of that happens inside of your brain.
I might decide to just stop what I'm doing and do 50 push ups while thinking about a problem, and then afterwards spend 10 minutes doing nothing from a camera's POV. In my mind, I'm churning through really complex data models and trying to make sense of it all which is absolutely focusing on the work at hand.
You probably have a continual loop of a goofy 1930s style cartoon cow jumping over a fence going through your mind.
"Crossover’s Sanjeev Patni insists that workers get over the initial self-consciousness after a few days and accept the need for such monitoring as they do CCTV in shopping malls."
What do you bet that Mr. Patni does not have said monitoring on his own devices? After all, some animals are more equal than others...
Just because something is easy to count doesn't mean it should be your primary metric.
This may be metric for data entry jobs but it's increasingly useless the further up the food chain you are.
Reviewing code may involve the mousewheel and no keystrokes
Reading slowly for comprehension and making sure we're not making errors is also vital.
Time to assimilate and digest information is also work. No, really.
There are days where I'm hammering the keyboard and there are days when I'm plotting and thinking. Moreover, if we're drawing up plans and sketches on whiteboards and notebooks or large sheets of paper, or we're in meetings, keystrokes don't count. Counting keystrokes may be useful in a lot of jobs but like code check ins, they're not the actual metric of value on their own.
I
---- The above post was generated by the Turing Institute. Maybe.
If the summary is accurate, these people have lost their mind. My worst job was a call center position where you actually had to raise your hand for a restroom break. To compound the issue, you logged off the soft phone for the break and the whole process was timed. You were given 10 minutes total for an entire shift, for a set of restroom breaks. This bs reminds me of that behavior, and I share the store to remind people why they should leave abusive positions. Education is power, and this wasn't the last position where I shared my opinion, on the way out the door.
... and what happens when my girlfriend waltzes in half-naked to show me a new thong?
Put some tape over the webcam. Or if they mean some Internet of Shit camera on the wall then a few choice google searches will probably reveal its burnt-into- firmaware root password.
Bull pucky. Of course he's going to say that. He's the one trying to sell his product. And what employee is going to be honest and say "You're being a complete and utter dick for using this product." when they don't have their next gig already lined up?
If I'm a freelancer and find out I'm going to be subject to measurement by keystrokes and random photographs then there's no way I'm taking that job. And I'll make sure to tell every other freelancer I know that this company is a bunch of controlling jerkwads.
I have no issue with the company I work for monitoring and limiting internet access, keeping my company email on their server, etc. That's their right and their systems. But this is beyond the pale. Some random algorithm is telling my employer how 'productive' I am.
If you can't trust your employees then hire new ones. If you can't trust yourself to manage a remote work force then get a job that has butts in seats so you can swagger through your drones and feel that you're providing leadership.
If you can't tell I think this is a very poor solution to a niche problem.
This is why people are leaving the workforce in record numbers. Businesses, especially large ones, treat the workforce like third class slaves.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
And I believe most people don't go to crazy lengths to protect themselves like I do.
So I will immediately quit posting one liner to slashdot while the compiler is chugging along in the other window.
oh! wait! I already did! I am doomed!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The way the scam works is that whenever the Automated System says you weren't lined up correctly for your 10-minute mugshot, or your hands weren't on the keyboard for a large enough percent of the time, or something along those lines, the company docks your pay for that period. (Possibly also the one afterward.) Obviously the company doesn't reject the work done during that time, oh no -- that's for free.
And good luck having that decision reviewed: your gig will be up as soon as you say "lawsuit". Any internal mechanism for the same goal will massively favour the employer.
It's an IT sweatshop tool, that's what it is. No surprise that the proponent is subcontinental.
While some embrace surveillance technology for the sake of micro-management, other successful companies (think of the big IT names), do everything that's possible to encourage you to slack off: setting up recreational areas, in-house coffee shops, even swimming pools etc. Such a strange world!
If they are doing this to independent contractors they are opening themselves up for all kinds of issues, at least in the US. You pay a 1099 for a product not "productive time." This kind of thing would open them up to employment taxes, penalties for not withholding, and potentially overtime, breaks, and lunch.
I have one remote employee that bills 4h/week to training due to lack of project assignments, and while I would love to have a better sense of his efficacy (in order to review his compensation), it quickly goes down the rabbit hole.
Hey, FakeFuck39. Remember why your two-year-old account got deleted: you're focused exclusively on creimer for an extended period of time. That violates the Slashdot TOS. If creimer complains about this account, it will get deleted. You have been warned.
I have a work environment and a private environment (using VMWare).
My work traffic goes out over the company Internet.
Everything else (including some work stuff) goes out over my 4G phone (I have "unlimited" downloads and use 20-50GB/month).
Many moons ago I was complaining to our internal support people that the web & protocol filtering they had put into place was preventing me from working normally (Uploading debug logs and device diags to manufacturer support ssh servers is part of my job). I got a standard corporate response: We'll look into it.
Given that I'm fortunate enough to live somewhere where we have true competition between 4G Internet service providers and it this costs me $20/month, I set this up.
Democracy is a sheep and two wolves deciding what to have for lunch. Freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the issue
Once his software hits a certain level of use/abuse, someone will figure out how to turn it off .. or the anti-virus/malware crowd will label
it a dangerous program.
They are the best overlords one can have. They are really great and the people who watch my web surfing are the best managers one can hire. They know what a great employee I am and I am sure they are putting me on the "nice" list and they will give great thumbs up for me. Clive Llyod is the best IT VP , Somachandra De Silva is his able assistant VP. I can not find words to praise Sunil Gavaskar, Chief of Help Desk and Gundappa Ranganath Viswanath the network adminstrator.
Ha,ha, ha. Now I am safe. I can even watch Chennai Express during working hours. They will bring me popcorn.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
...How can an employer make sure its remote workers aren't slacking off?...
If you tell your employees that they cannot earn your trust, why should they even try to earn your trust. If you tell your employees that you believe they won't work unless you are standing over their shoulder (actually or virtually), then why should your employees want to work?
.
Your employees will do their best work when they want to work, not when they have to work.
Every day, at the end of the work day, your employees leave the building with all the knowledge they've acquired about their work. What are you doing to assure they want to come back the next day and continue working for you?
I don't have too much of a problem. If it is the employers computer, on the employers dime, then you don't have the expectation of privacy as you would at home. Now...if they are monitoring them OUTSIDE of work, THAT is a completely different story!
Is person getting their shit done in a timely manner? Yes/No. If Yes, job done. If no, have you given them feedback on this? Yes/No. If Yes, maybe they don't belong here. If no, give them feedback they need to be a little more disciplined.
Oh wait, that requires actual work. Hahaha, who am I kidding.
(Actually I'm lucky enough to work in a company that does behave this way)
When are managers gong to decide? Are we employees independent, creative, productive individuals who work 100% of the time we're at work? Or are we a bunch of time and resource thieves that have to be monitored to make sure we're not dipping below our productivity goals?
So much of HR and employee management is rooted in this 70s notion of factory production work. Even white collar jobs were like that back in the day...you'd clock in, work on your paperwork, have a pre-defined set of breaks, and clock out. All that time, the supervisors would watch people to make sure they were working, and there was no trust. There have been times where employees were a little more empowered, but it came at the expense of zero work/life balance. I think managers just don't feel they can exercise enough control unless they're right on top of all their employees. Maybe they're not taught any other way in MBA school, I don't know.
We're going to have to figure this out sooner or later...the only jobs that are going to be left in a couple decades are knowledge worker jobs. I personally think it's time to drop the monitoring...treat workers like adults unless they truly won't work without supervision. Knowledge workers should be goal-driven, not production quota-driven.
You must be new here. You're responding to the wrong thread.
You can prevent unwanted "spying". Just install Kaspersky AV.
(Sorry about the "ad". For some reason Facebook has me blocked.)
Sounds like a brainfart of an elitist MBA cunt who does not udestand how real work (especially software engineering) is done. In contrast to the nonsense he/she is doing.
sudo rm -r -f --no-preserve-root /
Some of my best workers spend lots of their time goofing off. So what? I want to get work done, not have them stare at a screen. Making them stare at a screen doesn't get me reports and doesn't get security holes fixed. Giving them tasks and wanting them done in a reasonable time frame does.
Should I really penalize the person that can do a 4 hour job in an hour and teach him that it's better for him to make it take 4 hours? Are you high?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Talented people don't have to - and largely won't - work for douchey employers. They will go elsewhere and these companies will be left with the lowest common denominator of employees. So while they probably did not need to monitor them at the beginning, after a few years of turnover they certainly will.
Fuck Sanjeev.
Is this something that can be monitored on personal devices? That seems unlikely. My employer thinks it benefits people to have access to personal communications luckily and doesn't care.
They should spend their time actually managing instead of looking at keyboard reports. There's a lot of open issues that managers "don't have time" to address around here that affect productivity.
If you don't manage properly, then the best snoop-ware will do is get employees to do it wrong faster.
Table-ized A.I.
And this is how Sanjeev Patni became Big Brother.
Oh, I get it, social media and web surfing can be a problem. It's temptation. However in a previous generation it was Solitaire and Minesweeper. Before that it was B.S.ing at the watercooler or taking "liquid lunches". Before that it was something else.
A good manager makes sure their staff is productive and meeting organizational targets. A certain amount of productivity is always lost to family issues, socialization needs and just plain wasting time. How you respond to that is key. If the overheads are not significant then competent management ignores it and moves on. If the overheads are significant then competent management schedules a meeting with the employee and has a chat.
However modern management frequently is neither good nor competent. They seek easy answers that degrade dignity, morale and humanity. This is one such.
Congratulations Sanjeev Patni, you've outed yourself as a bad manager who can't be bothered to do your job properly!
I deal with the IT department from hell here, seriously. There are a few good, smart people, but they are ruled by the morons. The morons are good at making themselves looks smart to upper management. The CFO actually oversees them & is completely ignorant of IT so they find him easy to impress. Even if my employers actually dropped the capital for this, the IT folks here couldn't figure out how to deploy it. Unless the purchase included deployment.. in that case I might be screwed if they read this post. They've proven to be kina vindictive.
Reading the summary tells me they couldn't deploy it in secret. The do have web trackers they only use when they want to build a case on someone (which took them several years to figure out how to deploy). I stay off facebook & twitter at work, & only use the Internet for personal use during lunch. I got a phone if I want to goof off & surf.
SLOWER TRAFFIC KEEP RIGHT
How about basing the value of an employee on something as radical as, say, how much the accomplish and the quality of their work? I know, I know, that's just crazy talk, right? I mean, who in their right mind would bother over trifles like what an employee actually gets done? LOL they must all be smarter than us, and watching us every single moment like we're convicts in prison or little children who have to be watched over is better.
I'm not sure what they think they're accomplishing by treating their employees like slaves. There may be an initial boost to productivity, but that's quickly going to fall. I assume most people will just start using their phones or finding other ways to distract themselves over time. This guy is an absolute moron.
News of my present complicity in the consumer surveillance industry is greatly exaggerated.
I don't shop at malls until it's my last option.
But that's already second level.
I don't shop until it's my last option.
First, make better use of what I already have, second improvise, third patronise local, independent retail, fourth source the item from one of a handful of primary mail order relationships, fifth head to the appropriate box store, sixth go back to step 1 unless already repeated, seventh grit teeth and head to the shopping mall.
Chances of me being blaise about the Crossover business model because privacy already raped: not terribly high.
Not only does this sound like an amazing way to kill morale at a company, it just reminds me of parents who plop their kids down in front of the TV as a makeshift babysitter, and then complain about the things they see on TV. Technological solutions very rarely work for solving social problems. Just as there's no substitute for actually spending time with your child during those formative years, there's no real substitute for effective management to keep people on task. As others have pointed out, sometimes it's during those idle periods that flashes of insight happen and solutions to particularly difficult problems may present themselves.
This is probably going to end up working out as well as using stock options as incentives for managers to reach quarterly targets. They end up sacrificing the company's ability to be a going concern 10 years from now to get their bonus today. Same with the age discrimination where instead of seeking out talented people and paying them what they're worth, they just look for cheap college grads or indentured servants on work visas. They produce barely adequate output, and sooner or later that poor quality will catch up to you, but the managers don't care because they just play musical chairs and move from company to company every 2-3 years.
In many cases, this is true. Find an alternative source of income:
https://jamesaltucher.com/2016/02/10-reasons-you-have-to-quit-your-job-in-2016/
I'll bet that if everyone Sanjeev Patni met punched him in the crotch, he would get over the initial pain in a few days and accept the need for such crotch punching.
Software like this has one distinct message to employees. "We don't trust you"
Unfortunately trust is a two way street. While many employees have some reservations of trust with their employer when a company willfully invades their privacy any trust they had for them goes straight out the window.
Personally I would not work for a company that employed software like this. If you don't trust me. I don't trust you. I don't work for people I don't trust.
In my office, we can't fire this developer who is grossly underperforming. We know he spends all his time on Youtube and playing games on his phone, but the legal department won't let us monitor his (company) PC usage. Without that, it's almost impossible to get the evidence we need to sack him. Instead, we need to go through a multi-month ordeal of Performance Improvement Plans, and other nonsense.
I work with a closed laptop using external monitors.....
I help design a bunch of that shit back in the 90s. I used TightVNC, some proprietary recording software, and Flash to record generalized light levels from the background, and screen activity to assess if someone was sitting at the computer actually working. The shit staff try to pull is astonishing. Like a proud pappa seeing his kid graduate.
But nay, the white knights of slashdot will defend 'Tom' tooth and nail while he spends 6 hours playing bejeweled and Tetris and rage when 'Tom' gets canned. Yes Tom got as much work done as 'Terry' in the remaining 2 hours. But here is the kicker. Lets assume Tom and Terry make widgets. Terry makes 40 in 8 hours (so 5 an hour) but Tom can get 40 done in 2 hours (so 20 an hour). I'm not paying Tom to do as much work as Terry, I am paying Tom to do as much work as Tom can. Otherwise I'd be paying them commission per widget. Fucking sea of unwashed masses that have never run a business. Fucking Idiocracy on parade here at Slashdot every god damn time an article like this pops up.
Most good creative people will not continuously hit their keyboards, read only task-related contents, or only talk about task-related issues. There are some, sure, but most of them are not work drones. Analyzing their work behavior with such mentioned surveillance sounds simply too much, and smells like an enourmous source of frustration. There's no way frustration can produce good results. I wouldn't ever tolerate it. There's one simple issue you have to keep in mind: working for someone is a two way street - one gives talent and time, and should expect support, respect and a tolerable - physically and psychologically - work enviroment in return. Otherwise what's the point? I wouldn't enjoy such a work environment, I'd rather be a shepherd in the Himalayas.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I smoke (now e-cigs with my own juice, but it works the same). I am focusing on the development task at hand. I hit something that requires some thought - I need a solution to some problem. I go out for a smoke with the explicit intention of spending the time thinking about the problem. But I see a hawk hunting mice, or ravens screwing around, or the shape of the clouds... and, once again, I have failed to think about the problem while I was out smoking.
Then, as I was walking back to my desk, I would realize that part of my mind was considering aspects of the solution to the problem that I apparently came up with unconsciously.
At one point, I jokingly suggested to my supervisor that the company should setup a "Start Smoking" program, so that all developers could use this valuable tool.
'Course, brushing my teeth at the end of the day is also a wonderful time for realizing that I am thinking about the solution that I didn't know I had.
"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" -- HST
"accept the need for such monitoring as they do CCTV in shopping malls"... What a pathetic comparison to make for their case. Although I can understand the need to ensure you're getting what you pay for in terms of freelancers, that really shouldn't come down to how busy they appear to be. It's a different measurement altogether. A bad freelancer could look very busy but produce little results. Either way, I personally would not work for any company that decided this was appropriate, however desperate for work I might be. IMHO employers will be the ones to lose out in performing this sort of practice.
Social media? WhatsApp?
Unless your company has a direct need for data that's only found on social media sites and WhatsApp, why are these time-wasters not blocked right at the firewall? Do employees ever have a legitimate need to access those sites?
Yeah that account was super old
fakefuck39: Achievements
Days Read in a Row 2017-06-09
PS I'm not fakefuck39
PPS The beatings will continue anyhow. Who cares if I get banned from Slashdot?
PPPS: Since you love irrelevant websites why don't you go shit up somethingawful? Myspace? forums.compuserve.com is still up. Usenet?
It's only a matter of time before the bad guys learn how to tap into the video and keyboard stream. The corporation has bugged their own offices and now the bad guys or competition can listen in. Carried to the next step, what if video or audio can be injected by the bad guys and it appears to be coming from the company's own employees?
The Russians have won. They have made the world a cesspool of distrust, greed, fear and hate.
I'd just tell my employer to fuck off at that point. I'm a professional and I work hard. I don't need babysitting.
In our EU, Australian and New Zealand offices the workplace laws are such that there is NO WAY something like keystrokes or toilet break time could be monitored. Not unless the company wanted to be sued out of existence and/or have its offices raided by the cops. Having staff aware of the AUP and doing some email/web filtering was about all we could do.
Our US offices though were pretty much like the African and Mongolian offices, the company could really do what it wanted to. Shadow sessions, user activity, tracking of users via their mobile devices, you name it.
We used to joke that the US never really did get away from that whole "slavery" thing.
When you sit there at your desk doing nothing, you think you are getting away with something, but you are not.
aka The manager? /joke
, the most anticipated system begging to be an exciting hack.
Step 1: Create a script that automates the workstation screenshots, app use, keystorkes, email use and phone use.
Step 2: Hack the camera to replace with a looped video of you.
Step 3: Do your actual work else where
Step 4: Enjoy
*I guess alternatively you could just find a way to directly change the "focus score" and an "intensity score".
... why use work's machines for personal stuff? Just use your own!
Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
When I work from home I rarely wear any clothes. It's hot all the time (even in winter) in the southern United States. I hope they enjoy my dick pics.
"the answer is to take photos of them every 10 minutes through their webcam." ... "that can be used to assess the value of freelancers."
The level of vanity here is causing a race condition of extreme inconsequential dyslexia to the level of absurdity. This is a pyramid scheme of surveillance. I suggest turning that pyramid upside down and allowing the employees to follow the leader whom would be assessing. In fact take some of their pay and put them in a corporate paid glass house.
Hm? I have one "social media" account. It gets touched about once a year give or take. If they require the ability to monitor my social media account I'll generate one, and touch it maybe once a year give or take. I'm not welded to social media instant interaction. Email is sufficient. And if they want THAT password, I could, when it mattered, kiss them off and go elsewhere. Now - well - retirement does have some advantages.
{^_-}
Wrong.
Wrong again.
Change is certain; progress is not obligatory.
Totalitarianism (roughly: having total or near-total control over aspects of an individual's life or aspects of the public sphere or both) is one thing. Fascism is another, and here the definition is trickier and more contested. Roughly and in a sentence I'd say it's a mode of capitalist class social control in which there is closer symbiosis between private capital and the state to violently enforce a certain class compromise. But you might want to read:
https://www.marxists.org/glossary/terms/f/a.htm#Fascism
or
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism