“The difference now is maybe you could ask the question of which industries are using more, and which industries are under the spotlight. “Every single industry has some form of identification of workers’ activity,” said Moore. A 2007 survey by the American Management Association showed that 66% of employers monitored internet connections 45% tracked keystrokes content and time spent at the computer 43% stored and reviewed computer files and 10% even monitored employee social media accounts. White-collar jobs are monitored as well the recording of internet history, email messages and location have been done for many years. Amazon, for example, has drawn scrutiny for its automated tracking of fulfilment center workers, with reports of firings based on the productivity metrics gathered. The trend has been evident in jobs that require physical work, such as in manufacturing and warehouses.
In recent decades, as work shifted from the industrial to the information age, techniques to track employees evolved with new technologies. While often effective - the assembly lines at Ford factories a century ago are a notable example - the approach has also proved controversial because it can increase worker stress. StaffCop lets admins monitor employees via live video feed using their computer’s webcam. Keeping an eye on employees pre-dates the information age companies have long gravitated toward efforts to boost economic efficiency through worker productivity, a key tenet being the close monitoring of workers to hone and fine-tune work processes. And I think this is a bit of a shift to these at times invasive practices.”Įmployee monitoring to improve efficiency is not new, with conflicts over what should be prioritized: the rights of employers to see what their workforce is doing or an employee’s right to privacy and autonomy.
#People who use computers at work software#
There's a lot of new purchases in this software arena, a lot of new investment, a lot of new experimentations. “Whether or not it's necessary is another question, but it's definitely happening. “Frankly, yes, it is on the rise,” said Moore, who is working on a research project involving workplace surveillance for the EU Parliament. Phoebe Moore, associate professor of Political Economy and Technology at Leicester University in the UK, echoed Kropp and sees potential privacy concerns for employees. They were going to get there eventually the pandemic has just accelerated the future into the present.” “What the pandemic has done is just accelerate the speed at which that is happening.
“We were already moving in this direction of passively monitoring our employees, listening to them and watching them, and asking them less and less,” said Kropp. By July, the number had risen to 26% of companies. “When COVID-19 hit, we found that within the first month, 16% of companies put new tracking software on the laptops of their remote employees,” said Kropp, who has done research on post-COVID-19 workplace trends.
#People who use computers at work how to#
How to set up a WFH ‘office’ for the long term.The work-from-home employee’s bill of rights.( Computerworld reached out to several of the vendors for comment most either did not return messages or could not provide someone to discuss their software.) Navigating the WFH world Companies say they’re focused on transparency and productivity, but privacy groups decry draconian “Big Brother” moves made possible by technology. In some cases, the tracking tools can be installed without the knowledge of employees. At the same time, the trend raises concerns about employee privacy and how far companies should be allowed to go to keep tabs on their workers.Īpplications such as StaffCop, Teramind, Hubstaff, CleverControl, and Time Doctor include real-time activity tracking, can take screenshots of workers’ computers at regular intervals, do keystroke logging, and record screens. In the midst of a pandemic that’s led to unprecedented levels of remote working, digital tools to monitor employees in real time are gaining popularity among companies looking for new ways to track employee productivity.
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