Current Events > Managers turn to surveillance, always-on webcams to ensure employees are working

(+) Yeah! (+)

A growing cottage industry of what some managers call tattleware now caters to company leaders wanting some way to peer over workers shoulders and confirm their productivity. Several time-tracking and employee-monitoring companies, including ActivTrak, Hubstaff, Time Doctor and Teramind, told The Washington Post they have seen their customer base and revenue soar since the pandemic pushed many companies remote.

Several companies allow managers to regularly capture images of workers screens and list employees by who is actively working and their hours worked over the previous seven days.

One system, InterGuard, can be installed in a hidden way on workers computers and creates a minute-by-minute timeline of every app and website they view, categorizing each as productive or unproductive and ranking workers by their productivity score. The system alerts managers if workers do or say something suspicious: In a demo of the software shown to The Post, the words job, client and file were all flagged, just in case employees were looking elsewhere for work.
InterGuards system can also record all of the workers emails, instant messages and keystrokes, and takes pictures of workers screens as frequently as every five seconds, which managers can review as they please. You could literally watch a movie of what that person did, said Brad Miller, chief executive of the systems Connecticut-based parent company, Awareness Technologies.

Not all systems portray themselves as the work police, and some, like Pragli, suggest they can use always-on webcams and microphones to help bring workers closer together.

Pragli executives argue that emails and Slack messages, the traditional lifeblood of office communication, are socially unfulfilling: efficient but soulless, and powerless to combat the distractions and loneliness of working from home. In a company blog post last month, co-founder Doug Safreno wrote about how Pragli was born from his yearning for human contact, and how he believed features such as a frictionless video chat system could help create that sense of togetherness."

In an office, I would see other people at the water cooler. I could look up and see other people around me working. I passively heard people moving around in the office, he wrote. I knew I was part of a team working toward a shared mission.
A happier workforce, they argue, is ultimately more productive, and much of Pragli's infrastructure appears designed to maximize work output. The app's default setting automatically sends users an alert at 9 a.m.: Time to go to work!"

Praglis system measures employees keyboard and mouse usage to assess whether theyre actively working any more than 15 seconds can shift a worker from active to idle and allows anyone to instantly start a video conversation by clicking on another persons face, similar to swinging by their desk in a real-world office.

For that reason, Pragli recommends users keep their webcams and microphones on at all times; users can also connect their calendars and music playlists, so their co-workers know what theyre doing and listening to round-the-clock. Workers can also hop into specialized virtual rooms whenever they like, including a water cooler for workplace chitchat and a silent room for workers who dont talk but leave their microphones on, to convey the kind of ambient background noise one might hear in a coffee shop.

They are also developing a facial-recognition feature that could display a workers real-world emotion on their virtual avatars face; a beta version of the feature currently works only if the person smiles.

In a Pragli office, workers virtual avatars are lined up in a grid and viewable at all times. But another start-up, Sneek, takes that idea even further, uploading pictures of workers faces taken through their webcam as often as every minute for their colleagues to easily see.

There are some signs that all of this tech-enabled social monitoring is hitting a wall. The video-chat service Zoom recently removed an attention tracking setting, which alerted a call host when a participant was focused elsewhere, following public outcry about how invasive and creepy the feature seemed.

But some employees are registering their feelings in more subtle ways. At the High Plains Journal, one woman working from home with four kids gave her Pragli avatar a shock of white hair. And in meetings, when workers click the Celebrate button to fire off a burst of virtual confetti, Luce said its now almost always done sarcastically.

Bettye Young, an account executive at the journal who spends most of her day on the phone with clients, said the move to Pragli meant she had a whole other thing to watch. If shes in another room of her home in Dodge City, Kan., she can sometimes hear Luce, her supervisor, start talking through her computer, asking where she went.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/04/30/work-from-home-surveillance/

Jesus. Christ. I no longer have any interest in joining the work force. Put my first year of business undergrad in the shredder. Sorry for all that shit I talked NEETs


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They can keep that essential shit.

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Yeah... "corrupted driver" would happen pretty quickly.

Bet that won't go away once people return to the office.

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What can I do to stop this

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An always on spy camera in my own home? Fuck that.

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All of these apps and features sound awful. Damn.

If people get the work done why bother with this shit. If anything it sounds like the managers aren't busy if they notice an employee leave their chair for a moment.

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Darmik posted...

All of these apps and features sound awful. Damn.

If people get the work done why bother with this shit. If anything it sounds like the managers aren't busy if they notice an employee leave their chair for a moment.

Yeah this is insanely invasive and probably lowers morale enough to be counterproductive to what theyre ostensibly trying to fix

there are much better ways to determine if people are getting their work done

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As we move to the new normal and everything becomes virtual we will absolutely need these kinds of apps. Start getting used to it guys.

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Any company that uses this deserves to go under

Axiom posted...

Any company that uses this deserves to go under

Don't forget companies that buy toilet seats specifically designed to be uncomfortable to increase productivity.

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This system is ripe for abuse and sexual harassment issues. At an old university I worked for, a campus security guy got fired for watching college girls through the security cameras in the dorm's public lounges, and performing "inappropriate acts" in his office (as was stated in his termination memo).

It won't take long for a perv manager to be peeping on his female employees working from home and monitoring their every movement.

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Axiom posted...

Any company that uses this deserves to go under

this

Pepys Monster posted...

Don't forget companies that buy toilet seats specifically designed to be uncomfortable to increase productivity.

Satan, Inc.

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>turn off your webcam, break if necessary

problem solved
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Companies are pissed people can do the same amount of work in 3 hours rather than 8 hours

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Balrog0 posted...

What can I do to stop this

Unionize

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Damn_Underscore posted...

>turn off your webcam, break if necessary

problem solved

>lose job


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I don't know why some managers get so bent out of shape about keeping "utilized" all the time. If you finish all your work, there should be no problems instead, they assign you the most pointless shit. You know what, I think I will spend 8 hours to do this 1 hour job. Thanks.


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I don't like this one bit.

There's a good amount in David Graeber's book "Bullshit Jobs" describing how so much of our work structures aren't about maximizing efficiency, but instead flattering managers and their ideas about what employment should be.
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Bad managers. Why hire someone you have no trust in? If you think someone isnt working then their productivity and KPIs will demonstrate that without hovering over their shoulder

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My manager at subway used to monitor us from home using her webcam. Sucked.
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To think around this time last year we were seeing articles about Japan proving that micromanaging is detrimental to productivity and shit lmao
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Fuck companies and managers that do this.

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Squall28 posted...

I don't know why some managers get so bent out of shape about keeping "utilized" all the time. If you finish all your work, there should be no problems instead, they assign you the most pointless shit. You know what, I think I will spend 8 hours to do this 1 hour job. Thanks.

For purely salaried workers this is true but hourly workers do need to actually make use of their billable hours.

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This is why you don't compromise with capitalists. They will take everything from you if its profitable, or even just feasible. You should instead take as much as you can from them.

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They can't legally install this shit on your personal computer if you're remote connecting through a VPN, can they? :\

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Hexenherz posted...

They can't legally install this shit on your personal computer if you're remote connecting through a VPN, can they? :\

If youre using your own device you probably signed an agreement saying they can install certain apps on your computer as required by the business. Whether they have the capability to do so without your knowledge is a different matter but its definitely possible
If youre using a work device they can install whatever they want because its theirs

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This is some dystopian bullshit

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Blue_Inigo posted...

This is some dystopian bullshit

I always warned this was going to happen but nobody believed me

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Doe posted...

They are also developing a facial-recognition feature that could display a workers real-world emotion on their virtual avatars face; a beta version of the feature currently works only if the person smiles.

No squidward, you wouldnt want to have a talk with... human resources, now would you?

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Ive noticed an increased amount of similar stuff happening in my company since the lockdown. We have a meeting at 8:45 (our normal start time is 9) under the pretence that no one has any problems with their work but more than likely its to make sure everyone actually has work to do. Then another one at 5 where everyone has to confirm what work they actually did

And in the last week we found out a few people have been accused of high traffic usage on our work VPN (with the implication they are streaming video all day). Its getting pretty 1984 tbh

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Cool I finally get a work laptop.

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Damn_Underscore posted...

>turn off your webcam, break if necessary

problem solved

Turning it off does nothing as they could most likely just turn it back on. The solution is cover it by tapping a piece of paper over the cam. Then since they will probably be listening in through the microphone just have music blaring next to the computer if you ever leave the room.

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Jesus Christ just put a post-it or tape over your web camera when not in use. Problem solved.

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if they aren't doing this already they will when it's easier or cheaper. they'll dress it up as much as they can like the marketers did Werth social media.

This is far from the worst thing the future has brought us. In a vacuum, of course, it's awful.

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What a bunch of hot garbage. It is the trademark of a crap boss to fuss over whether an employee is sitting at a desk for 8 hours a day rather than focus on results.

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Omega Hunter posted...

Jesus Christ just put a post-it or tape over your web camera when not in use. Problem solved.

Why do you think this would be an acceptable solution? It's like if you have to swipe in and out at work. Swipe in when you get there, swipe out and back in from break, swipe out when you leave. They have to make sure you're not coming in late, leaving early, or taking too much time for your breaks.

That's a rule. At no point do you get to say "I'm not going to swipe in, forcing me to comply with this is unacceptable." They'll tell you find a new place to work, which you might be able to do.. for now. If (who am I kidding, when) this becomes standard and is enforced in a lot of places, then what? Just don't work?

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Ultima Dragon posted...

At no point do you get to say "I'm not going to swipe in, forcing me to comply with this is unacceptable." They'll tell you find a new place to work, which you might be able to do.. for now. I

If you aren't actively looking for employment elsewhere as soon as this policy is announced, you should start fairly soon.

I'm pretty sure most research has shown that micromanagement actually decreases productivity.

The best way to avoid it is to probably close the laptop and connect it to a monitor. Doesn't help screen monitoring r bosses who demand the camera on though.

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Seems like a decent reason to take the "no pants" WFH joke very seriously.

This will only continue if the workers tolerate it. Unionizing or striking in the face of this will end it.

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And this folks is why unions are a must. The pros far outweigh the cons.
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Wow thats crazy. Although we do get called out now in team meetings for not turning video on.

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TheGoldenEel posted...

there are much better ways to determine if people are getting their work done

It's not to ensure that work gets done it's to convey to workers how hard the bosses own them

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Thankfully all I have to do is clock-in remotely, sit in on two conference calls a week, and fill in a log sheet and Im done. 98% of my work week is spent kicking back and enjoying life.

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Disengaged posted...

We need another President Roosevelt.

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Disengaged posted...

The only way we can make people cooperate is by finding a really tough guy to force them to cooperate.

The only way we can make the tough guys to cooperate is by finding a really tough guy to force them to cooperate.

In the end, we will never cooperate unless Superman shows up.

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