I've often said that we've infantilized the modern worker. Throw in some "fun" perks like video games and foosball tables, create a college-like work culture, and suddenly your employees stop feeling like adults that deserve fair treatment and pay and instead feel like children that look up to and follow authority blindly and rarely ask to be treated and paid like an expert in their field.
This kind of crap with spying on employees is just the other side of the coin. Employers feel more like parents that need to keep track of all their kids in case they do anything bad instead of trusting workers to do their jobs profesionally.
I think if most people were made aware of this kind of spying they'd rarely make a fuss these days. It's just mom and dad making sure they stay out of trouble. God forbid we demand to be treated like adults.
I disagree with your narrative. In the article, it was quoted that
Bosses have always kept a close eye on employees. Henry Ford famously paced the factory floor with a stopwatch, timing his workers' motions in a bid for greater efficiency. He also hired private investigators to spy on employees' home lives to make sure personal problems didn't interfere with their work performance."
I think that this is much rather the ability to be cheaply and easily monitored at all times. An easier way of not being monitored is to not use electronics provided by the company except for their given purpose (like using the computer only for work related items, ie not Facebook, Twitter, Snapzu, ect).
Although I agree a little with you on the possible "infantilization of modern workers", I believe that this is the result of better organizational behavior studies (that identify problems with work group and policies, and try to find solutions to alleviate them), and with problems with the blending of work and life outside of work (ie, answering work emails at home, being on call most of the time, answering calls and emails on vacations.)
I've often said that we've infantilized the modern worker. Throw in some "fun" perks like video games and foosball tables, create a college-like work culture, and suddenly your employees stop feeling like adults that deserve fair treatment and pay and instead feel like children that look up to and follow authority blindly and rarely ask to be treated and paid like an expert in their field.
This kind of crap with spying on employees is just the other side of the coin. Employers feel more like parents that need to keep track of all their kids in case they do anything bad instead of trusting workers to do their jobs profesionally.
I think if most people were made aware of this kind of spying they'd rarely make a fuss these days. It's just mom and dad making sure they stay out of trouble. God forbid we demand to be treated like adults.
I disagree with your narrative. In the article, it was quoted that
I think that this is much rather the ability to be cheaply and easily monitored at all times. An easier way of not being monitored is to not use electronics provided by the company except for their given purpose (like using the computer only for work related items, ie not Facebook, Twitter, Snapzu, ect).
Although I agree a little with you on the possible "infantilization of modern workers", I believe that this is the result of better organizational behavior studies (that identify problems with work group and policies, and try to find solutions to alleviate them), and with problems with the blending of work and life outside of work (ie, answering work emails at home, being on call most of the time, answering calls and emails on vacations.)