Employee surveillance by Big Business

Aneth Ng-Lim

Nearly six months after the World Health Organization declared the end of the Covid-19 global pandemic, many workers have returned to the office. Some were indifferent, others were even excited, and then there were those protesting, even kicking and screaming, wishing they could continue to work from home.But there is something more alarming than whether you are back in the actual office, or working remotely – and that’s the amount of surveillance your company is doing on you to track your productivity.From punch cards to detailed time sheetsYears ago, my employer sent out a memo that shocked many of us in the ranks. We were being asked to track our hours spent working, and not just to clock in or out, but to indicate what we did during those hours – what project we were working on, for which department, and how much time we spent each day until the project ended.Just as I was adjusting to this new normal, I moved to another company, which took that tracker to a whole new level plus added more dimensions where the lines between personal and professional have blurred. I remember getting a new tablet, and requesting permission to install an App that would give me access to work email. Permission granted, but I also had to give my company permission to access information on my tablet for workplace security protocols. How much employee surveillance is too much?Under the guise of workplace cybersafety and confidentiality, many employers today leveraged on the pandemic and remote work to introduce more and more surveillance measures to control any possibility of employee misconduct. While some employers may mean nothing more than to ensure productivity, recent evidence points to these surveillance tactics as ineffective and bad for morale.According to Cybozu, one of Japan’s leading groupware provider, this sentiment is growing among workers across industries, where Big Business have tracked everything from employees’ sent emails to keystrokes, and word-for-word conversations on sales calls. And yes, they still have the dreaded time-sheet where you must account for all the hours you were “working”.Why not have open communication?CEO Yoshihisa Aono shared that Cybozu’s corporate culture rests on the assumption that employees know best how to do their own jobs. “The biggest risk of workplace surveillance is to erode trust between managers and employees, so we make sure to keep surveillance to a minimum. Surveillance is not an optimal use of a manager’s time. Instead, we emphasize independence and autonomy, focusing primarily on results.” Founded in 1997 with about 2,000 employees, Cybozu is speaking from experience. Before the pandemic, over 70％ of its employees worked at the office. That number dropped to nearly 0% in early 2020 and is now still on average below 20%.With an open communication culture, the company’s turnover or retention rate was less than 5% last year, while company sales grew by 19.4%.“If a company has a teamwork culture prioritizing the open exchange of information, then everyone can easily get an idea of what everyone else is doing. That means not just managers better understanding employees, but also employees better understanding each other. In an open communication culture, I don’t think workplace surveillance is necessary,” said Aono.Walking the talk with KintoneRather than surveillance by management, Aono suggests self-surveillance or self-reporting. “Our employees fix their own work schedules and decide whether to work from home or at the office. Then, they are expected to inform their teams of their work preferences via our online platform. Everyone has access to the platform, so if you need to know if, where, and when a colleague is working, the information is always available.”That platform is the company’s flagship product called Kintone, which has become integral to many global businesses since its launch in 2011. Kintone is a customisable digital workplace platform that helps to manage data, tasks, and communication all in one place. With its no-code features, over 1,000,000 custom applications have been built, deployed, and updated on Kintone by users and developers, ranging from project management and asset management, to human resources and sales training, operations and more. During the pandemic, the volume of messages exchanged via the Kintone open communication platform increased by 5x, showing how much employees actually used the platform as a substitute for in-person communication.“Rather than increased surveillance, I believe future managers will rely more heavily on information sharing, driven by greater mutual understanding and awareness,” explained Aono. “I would encourage employees, when looking for a job, to think very carefully about their criteria. Some people might be fine with high surveillance and zero privacy if, in exchange, they are given a high salary and benefits. Others can’t possibly be happy or productive in such a strict system.”“Think about your ideal work environment—not just in terms of compensation but also purpose, work-life balance, work culture, and so on—then set your own red flags.”<ul class='op-related-articles'>	<li><a href='https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/06/08/22/govt-agencies-told-monitor-output-under-flexi-work'>Gov't agencies told: Monitor employees' output under 4-day flexi-work</a></li>	<li><a href='https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/22/22/chinese-firms-caught-tracking-employees-about-to-resign-looking-for-jobs'>Chinese firms caught tracking employees about to resign, looking for jobs</a></li></ul>

Just as I was adjusting to this new normal, I moved to another company, which took that tracker to a whole new level plus added more dimensions where the lines between personal and professional have blurred. I remember getting a new tablet, and requesting permission to install an App that would give me access to work email. Permission granted, but I also had to give my company permission to access information on my tablet for workplace security protocols. How much employee surveillance is too much?Under the guise of workplace cybersafety and confidentiality, many employers today leveraged on the pandemic and remote work to introduce more and more surveillance measures to control any possibility of employee misconduct. While some employers may mean nothing more than to ensure productivity, recent evidence points to these surveillance tactics as ineffective and bad for morale.According to Cybozu, one of Japan’s leading groupware provider, this sentiment is growing among workers across industries, where Big Business have tracked everything from employees’ sent emails to keystrokes, and word-for-word conversations on sales calls. And yes, they still have the dreaded time-sheet where you must account for all the hours you were “working”.Why not have open communication?CEO Yoshihisa Aono shared that Cybozu’s corporate culture rests on the assumption that employees know best how to do their own jobs. “The biggest risk of workplace surveillance is to erode trust between managers and employees, so we make sure to keep surveillance to a minimum. Surveillance is not an optimal use of a manager’s time. Instead, we emphasize independence and autonomy, focusing primarily on results.” Founded in 1997 with about 2,000 employees, Cybozu is speaking from experience. Before the pandemic, over 70％ of its employees worked at the office. That number dropped to nearly 0% in early 2020 and is now still on average below 20%.With an open communication culture, the company’s turnover or retention rate was less than 5% last year, while company sales grew by 19.4%.“If a company has a teamwork culture prioritizing the open exchange of information, then everyone can easily get an idea of what everyone else is doing. That means not just managers better understanding employees, but also employees better understanding each other. In an open communication culture, I don’t think workplace surveillance is necessary,” said Aono.Walking the talk with KintoneRather than surveillance by management, Aono suggests self-surveillance or self-reporting. “Our employees fix their own work schedules and decide whether to work from home or at the office. Then, they are expected to inform their teams of their work preferences via our online platform. Everyone has access to the platform, so if you need to know if, where, and when a colleague is working, the information is always available.”That platform is the company’s flagship product called Kintone, which has become integral to many global businesses since its launch in 2011. Kintone is a customisable digital workplace platform that helps to manage data, tasks, and communication all in one place. With its no-code features, over 1,000,000 custom applications have been built, deployed, and updated on Kintone by users and developers, ranging from project management and asset management, to human resources and sales training, operations and more. During the pandemic, the volume of messages exchanged via the Kintone open communication platform increased by 5x, showing how much employees actually used the platform as a substitute for in-person communication.“Rather than increased surveillance, I believe future managers will rely more heavily on information sharing, driven by greater mutual understanding and awareness,” explained Aono. “I would encourage employees, when looking for a job, to think very carefully about their criteria. Some people might be fine with high surveillance and zero privacy if, in exchange, they are given a high salary and benefits. Others can’t possibly be happy or productive in such a strict system.”“Think about your ideal work environment—not just in terms of compensation but also purpose, work-life balance, work culture, and so on—then set your own red flags.”<ul class='op-related-articles'>	<li><a href='https://news.abs-cbn.com/video/news/06/08/22/govt-agencies-told-monitor-output-under-flexi-work'>Gov't agencies told: Monitor employees' output under 4-day flexi-work</a></li>	<li><a href='https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/02/22/22/chinese-firms-caught-tracking-employees-about-to-resign-looking-for-jobs'>Chinese firms caught tracking employees about to resign, looking for jobs</a></li></ul>

From punch cards to detailed time sheetsYears ago, my employer sent out a memo that shocked many of us in the ranks. We were being asked to track our hours spent working, and not just to clock in or out, but to indicate what we did during those hours – what project we were working on, for which department, and how much time we spent each day until the project ended.

Nearly six months after the World Health Organization declared the end of the Covid-19 global pandemic, many workers have returned to the office. Some were indifferent, others were even excited, and then there were those protesting, even kicking and screaming, wishing they could continue to work from home.But there is something more alarming than whether you are back in the actual office, or working remotely – and that’s the amount of surveillance your company is doing on you to track your productivity.

It is alarming how much surveillance your company is doing on you to track your productivity.

Employee surveillance by Big Business | ABS-CBN News

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Employee surveillance by Big Business

Employee surveillance by Big Business