Posted on 07/21/2019 8:56:34 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
It’s not just email. Employers are mining the data their workers generate to figure out what they’re up to, and with whom. There’s almost nothing you can do about it.
... Employers are parsing those interactions to learn who is influential, which teams are most productive and who is a flight risk.
... to examine data on the sender, recipient and timing of over 130 million emails—not the content of the messages—from more than 20,000 U.S. employees to see what dots it could connect about relationships.
It’s not just emails that are being tallied and analyzed. Companies are increasingly sifting through texts, Slack chats and, in some cases, recorded and transcribed phone calls on mobile devices.
“I’m not all tinfoil hat or anything,” she says, noting that she tries to avoid sharing personal data online altogether.
One of the newest frontiers is dissecting phone calls and conference room conversations. In some cases, tonal analysis can help diagnose culture issues on a team, showing who dominates conversations,
Teramind deploys a suite of software that can take a live look at employees’ screens, capture real-time keystrokes, record video of their activities and break down how they spend their time. ...can also classify employees’ hours as productive or unproductive, based on activities like scrolling through Facebook.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
When first upgraded to phons with GPS, I told everyone, they are tracking you! Many would turn the phone off when at lunch or after work. Oh, I had fun with that !!!
I have never bought a Cellphone without a removable battery.
I have never used the GPS on my phone, ever.
I have never enabled google location tracking, and about 2x yearly I reconfirm that it’s still off.
I’m completely sure that doesn’t quite do the trick, though.
>>I have never bought a Cellphone without a removable battery.<<
Soon they will not exist. I use my PDA extensively so I am sort of stuck. But I do zero Social Media so if my company wants to monitor my business conversations on their phone I use, have at it.
Like the majority of us here, I’m glad we’re at the tail end of our careers, rather than just beginning!
My only “boss” is the one Adam tried hiding from......
Another reason NOT to go along with the “bring your own device” to work trend.
A case could be made that they are creating a “hostile” work environment.
I have never read about it, but I believe there is something that is called “social lubricant” in a work environment.
That is the interaction with people (and customers) that are not directly productive. It is the sharing of information and allows bonding. People are more likely to go out of their way to help people they like (and the opposite is true).
I think bad things happen when a company concentrates on the bottom line and ignores everything else.
One good example I have seen (and read about) is the way they treat “dead wood”. That is the employee that has been there the longest and has seen all the changes and more importantly can remember how to “fix” the old stuff. I call this dead wood the CORPORATE MEMORY. With out it a company often has to re-invent the wheel since no one remembers how to keep the old one working.
In the end, an employee can help a company grow or they can destroy it (just by following the rules as they are written).
Absolutely they will exist, because there is a market for them, and because milspec requires that feature.
If I start buying milspec contractor phones I’ll have to pay through the nose but they will still work if I drop one off a scissor lift two stories up.
Kinda hard to do these days, though I am still maintaining an older Android with a removable battery.
I get flak for intentionally carrying a “dumb” flip phone. I can make calls and send and receive texts. Can’t install apps, and no GPS.
But how will I do everything? I’ll check the email and log in remotely when I get home, if I chose to. No, you can’t make me pull over in the car and review it right now, no, I can’t review it while I’m at a kid event.
I get push back and strange looks when I say I cannot install your app to get coupons and perform bank transactions. Then again, my data can’t be stolen via them. It is a major step toward better IT security. I can’t help the OPM and Experian hacks that did affect us.
My kids intentionally have the same dumb flip phones. You can call. You can text. You can’t send a sexting photo, and the ones someone tries to send are so low a resolution that it isn’t worth it. The inability to read emojis well forces them to TALK or spell out ideas to people. My kids are repeatedly asked, “Are you being punished? Or is your iPhone just in the shop?”
Isn't FreeRepublic social media ("interactive computer-mediated technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, career interests and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks")?
>>Absolutely they will exist, because there is a market for them, and because milspec requires that feature.<<
I did not know that. I have not seen any PDAs with removable batteries in quite some time. My Galaxy S4 was the last one I had/saw.
>>Isn’t FreeRepublic social media <<
I guess I should have said “using my RL name.”
Bad news G Larry, he’s monitoring every move you make, every conversation and can read your thoughts even.
I just read the entire WSJ article using some paywall-defeat javascript solution posted here on FR a couple months ago. It really works well
It is really a frightening article. It lists many companies selling “people analytics” solutions and how companies are using them to keep tabs on employees, frequently in the name of building “high performance teams.”
Thanks for posting.
You wrote “Isn’t FreeRepublic social media?”
I’ve made that same point many times to people claiming they don’t use social media. Posting ANYTHING ANYWHERE on the internet is “using social media.”
I’ve got family who encrypt everything.
The DNC is probably doing this to weed out anyone who might be disloyal to The Party.
I’m the same way. The only time I miss a smart phone is when I’m out and about and need to see if there’s a particular store/shop or closing hours, etc.
For that I just call a friend or family and ask them to do a search on their computer which I know they are sitting in front of.
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