Promotions, opportunities, hirings and firings all life-altering events are subject to their authority.
It is a mighty responsibility, and abuse of managerial power can have devastating consequences.
During the pandemic, the relationship between workers and their seniors has evolved in unexpected ways.
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Time Doctor goes further, taking videos of users screens.
It can also take a picture via webcam every 10 minutes to check that employees are at their computer.
Now, one firm wants to take things even further.
It is developingmachine-learning softwareto measure how quickly employees complete different tasks and suggest ways to speed them up.
Unsurprisingly, people find this clandestine data collection unsettling and, frankly, sinister.
It reveals the veneer of trust to be exactly that.
But there are lots of reasons we should be resistant to workplace surveillance tech.
Here are just four.
Values
Who decides what optimal performance looks like?
Which data emissions should hold the most weight when it comes to evaluating an employees prospects?
When were talking about screen-time or interactions with colleagues, these questions do not have clear and unambiguous answers.
Thats what were trying to do.
When were dealing with humans and not machines, whatdoes 100% productivity even look like?
Is it possible to produce maximum output every hour of the working day?
If itwerepossible would it be desirable?
Moreover, it may even be sabotaging for the businesses in the long-run.
Depending on the throw in of work, employees can become synonymous with and indistinguishable from their quantifiable output.
This surveillance software further reduces workers to the sum of their data in a way that is undeniably dehumanizing.
Moreover, it is important to recognize precisely who these tools will largely be weaponized against.
Were not talking about lawyers, physicians, high ranking executives, and consultants.
This software is for the aggressive surveillance of junior and low wage workers.
It undercuts the humanity of those who are desperate to remain in work or to progress in their careers.
This expectation explains why these tools are becoming a popular crutch for pseudo-strategicdecision-making.
This article was originally published onYou The DatabyFiona J McEvoy.
Shes a tech ethics researcher and the founder ofYouTheData.com.
