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Workplace surveillance -

Workplace surveillance is not new. Supervisors have always had the role to keep an eye on employees, analyzing and monitoring their behavior at work.

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Old surveillance -

The goal of ‘old’ workplace surveillance, rooted in enslavement and forced labor, largely emerged in conjunction with industrialization.

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Industrialization -

The issue of productivity in the factory used the supervisor to identify waste. Where was labor underproducing and where could discipline be applied to promote production?

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Laborers and overseers -

By dividing the workplace into “laborers" and "overseers,” the act of supervision was integral to limit acts that could be considered underperformance.

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Obedience and discipline -

From a laborer perspective, workplace surveillance in the factory was to instill a particular obedience and discipline in the production line.

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Appropriate work habits -

Instilling 'appropriate work habits,' which include obedience, discipline, but also efficiency, has long included the act of observation of their work, as well as the monitoring and evaluation of their performance.

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Outside work -

But even before the digitalization boom of labor, workers began being surveilled, in some ways, even outside their work hours.

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Henry Ford -

In the early 1900s, Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, was having a serious issue in retaining workers in his factories, as they were unable to meet the production demands he had in mind. He proposed raising wages to retain workers.

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Moral lifestyles -

But the increased wages came with a condition. Workers had to adhere to “moral lifestyles.” What would this consist of? The company issued a brochure outlining what consisted of an eligible worker.

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Rules -

Workers had to be sober, married, and hygienic. These morals also had to be reflected in their family life, meaning their children must also appear hygienic.

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Department -

Ford created a specific department to monitor employees’ adherence to the conditions. Unannounced visits to people’s homes to observe compliance was common. Neighbors and fellow employees would be questioned regarding the behavior of employees to ensure widespread adherence.

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Meeting labor demands -

For Ford, the more physically fit his employees were, the more they would be able to meet the labor demands he sought. Therefore, surveilling his employees’ health and 'morality' outside work was his way to ensure productivity inside work.

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Everything is trackable -

In today’s digitalized worksphere, nearly everything a worker does in and outside work hours is trackable to some degree. Information regarding people’s private and public lives is often easily accessible.

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Digital footprint -

Our digital footprints are significant. In the workplace, many are subjected to biometric check-ins to register official start/end times, and employees’ computer screens can easily be recorded, surveilling their every move during work hours.

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Recording -

Sometimes this easily accessible information can overlap. For example, increasingly, people can be recorded on phones or other technology outside their work spaces engaging in behavior that may be considered harmful or even dangerous to themselves or others.

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Online -

The recording of this information can be published online, particularly through the use of social media or other tools that allow for information to be easily distributed to a wide network of consumers.

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Firing people -

Reactions of, for example, social media users to a person’s recorded behavior could drive public calls to find out who the person is, where they work, etc. This has sometimes resulted in the firing of individuals.

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Ease of access -

The ease of access of employers to people’s information and their identities outside work plays a part in employers’ ability to analyze their employees' behavior outside the parameters of the workplace.

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UAM services -

Inside the workplace, there are a myriad of technologies that employers use to record and analyze employees activities. Companies like InterGuard offer user-activity monitoring services that are increasingly purchased by employers.

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Forensic data -

What does this look like? InterGuard states that the use of their services to record and analyze employees’ social media networks, email, geolocation, internet activity, and keystrokes, among other activities, allows employers to have the forensic data necessary to evaluate employee performance.

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Unusual behaviors -

The service also highlights “unusual behavioral patterns” in employees activities. This technology is widespread and is offered by a number of companies.

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Monitoring -

In the United States alone, the numbers speak for themselves: 66% of companies track internet use and 45% monitor keystrokes, all using these technologies similar to InterGuard.

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Monitoring devices -

Some companies use monitoring devices to track employees’ physical movements. In Amazon’s warehouses, for example, workers are required to wear a device that outlines the shortest route to where they need to go in a warehouse.

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Device use -

Managers can also use the device to tell workers if they’re moving too slow, if they’re socializing too much, or any other demand they may consider a hindrance to productivity.

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Badges -

Devices that monitor employee behavior and determine unproductive social dynamics are also widely used. Sociometric Solutions, an analytics firm, produced a badge that records employees during the day to determine how their behavior affects their performance.

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Bank of America -

Bank of America, for example, used this technology to collect observations of their employees to determine who would be fired when a layoff period initiated.

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Layoffs -

They determined that those who sat with more people during lunch hour were 36% more productive than those who sat in smaller groups. This was a factor in how layoff decisions were made for the company.

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Epicenter -

Companies like Epicenter have produced microchips for employees. Microchips the size of rice grains are implanted under employees’ skin. A Wisconsin-based company that recently implemented the service says the technology isn’t just to monitor their employees, but to facilitate their lives.

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Using their chip -

Employees can operate printers, purchase snacks from vending machines, among other services, using their chip, thereby reducing the number of devices or access cards they need to have at hand.

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Employers have access constantly -

But, of course, in exchange for this supposed convenience, employers have access to data on an employee’s whereabouts and behaviors around the clock.

Sources: (Monthly Review) (The New York Times)

See also: How and why you should separate your identity from work

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