Spying on employees is stupid AND unethical
I always felt that spying on employees was counterproductive. It simply demotivates people and stifles creativity!
This is explained far more eloquently in Another company to avoid by Shel Holtz.
Some of the products now on the market, for example the heavily advertised SpectorSoft, which can log every email, every IM, every keystroke, and much more border on evil. I wonder how many in management are qualified to interpret the results?? (You spent 5 minutes more than average using search engines, and you urinate 20% too frequently. Both result in loss of productive time!).
I remember one clueless idiot I worked for (note: the only clueless or idiot boss I've ever had) about 10 years ago who was upset that I was spending so much time on the Internet. I was managing development teams across 6 time zones and 3 continents, as well as being the main point of contact for several vendors. Hmmm, so maybe that explains my time on the Internet?
I ignored the dolt and concentrated on getting my work done - am I a difficult employee or what? :)
If someone wants to make sure employees ONLY work while at work, perhaps they should spy on employees at home as well to make sure they are not working there!
It is unethical and probably illegal in many jurisdictions to spy on employees electronically or otherwise. Certainly recording every phone conversation is illegal in the USA and much of the world (disclaimer, I'm no lawyer!).
It's probably best to summarize by: Companies that are nice to their employees have employees that are nice to them, and spying is not nice!
This is explained far more eloquently in Another company to avoid by Shel Holtz.
Some of the products now on the market, for example the heavily advertised SpectorSoft, which can log every email, every IM, every keystroke, and much more border on evil. I wonder how many in management are qualified to interpret the results?? (You spent 5 minutes more than average using search engines, and you urinate 20% too frequently. Both result in loss of productive time!).
I remember one clueless idiot I worked for (note: the only clueless or idiot boss I've ever had) about 10 years ago who was upset that I was spending so much time on the Internet. I was managing development teams across 6 time zones and 3 continents, as well as being the main point of contact for several vendors. Hmmm, so maybe that explains my time on the Internet?
I ignored the dolt and concentrated on getting my work done - am I a difficult employee or what? :)
If someone wants to make sure employees ONLY work while at work, perhaps they should spy on employees at home as well to make sure they are not working there!
It is unethical and probably illegal in many jurisdictions to spy on employees electronically or otherwise. Certainly recording every phone conversation is illegal in the USA and much of the world (disclaimer, I'm no lawyer!).
It's probably best to summarize by: Companies that are nice to their employees have employees that are nice to them, and spying is not nice!
posted by Ted Demopoulos at 12:22 AM
Comments on "Spying on employees is stupid AND unethical"
-
Anonymous said ... (Tuesday, February 07, 2006 4:42:00 AM) :
-
Anonymous said ... (Monday, June 12, 2006 2:02:00 AM) :
post a commentThe Postal Service ,in the name of 'security', has locked us in our building like prisoners even though we have a 10 foot fence around our facility. Good by pure air! Bellmawr N.J.
talk about pure air, try working in a stuffy,smokey casino for ten hours while your employer spies on you.Million dollar video surveillance that should focus on thieves is focusing on our cleavage.Now thats stupid!