I just read an article about snooping bosses and I reflected about the power bosses have. With modern technologies your mobile phone can work as a GPS so your boss can watch you 24 hours a day. I think this is terrible. You will not have any private life. Your boss knows everything you do and where you are. Even if you don’t do anything illegal it isn’t ok to let the boss know everything. Is it for example right that the boss knows when you visit a doctor?
The increased surveillance is a question about distrust. The boss doesn’t believe the employees do a good job. I think this hurts the relationship and also the working environment. But the employees also have responsibility, when you are at work you are expected to work. If every employee works when they are supposed to, I don’t think this discussion would have ever started.
I worked at the minimarket in a camping one summer a few years ago. The boss was very suspicious and distrusted us. She installed security cameras in the minimarket to minimize the shopliftings but at the same time said: “So I can see that you are working”. It was meant as a joke but I don’t think it was really. Even if we worked as hard as we could, I was afraid that she would come and tell us to work harder.
I think this surveillance can be a good thing in some circumstances. For example, when the boss can see what webpages the employees visit and what phone calls they make during working hours. Nowadays many people work in offices in front of a computer. It will cost the company large amount of money if the employees surf the web instead of working.
The author also wrote about blogs and Facebook. My opinion is that you shouldn’t write anything on Facebook or your blog that you couldn’t say to anybody. If you don’t have the courage to say to your boss that you don’t like him or her, don’t write it on Facebook either. But I don’t think it is right that the boss can use program that track the webpages you visit at home.
When I read what I have been writing it almost sounds like I think that everybody can do everything and that this is ok. Of course not, but I think that if you do something illegal, such as downloading child pornography, outside the job it is a police case not something concerning your boss. It might result in losing your job and having problem finding a new one.
Hi Sara,
SvaraRaderaYou got a lot of interesting thoughts about this article and I agree in what you have written. I also think it’s very important for every manager to separate an employee’s free time from work time. What you do on your spare time is your business as long as it´s not affecting your work. I also agree when you talk about facebook and blogs. If you can´t stand for what you write you shouldn´t be writing it.
//Robin
Hi Sara,
SvaraRaderaYes indeed it seems like we have the same opinions about this issue. I found it interesting that you mentioned trust as your main theme in your text, because that is usually the reason for the bosses to be suspicious. I also liked the part where you related to some of your own experience, that made me think that maybe i also was under surveillance at my last work place. Overall i found it to be a very interesting blog post.
/Stefan
Hi Sara,
SvaraRaderaI found your blog entry very interesting, especially the part about distrust. I agree with everything you have written except from the paragraph in which you claim that you should not express your point of view on a private web site if you do not have the guts to tell this to the person in question, face to face. Why? I think that some matters are delicate and maybe there is not a constructive way of criticizing a person or a company. But this is not an argument for give up on your right to tell others how you feel. You might say that the internet is not the proper place for sharing these thoughts but I believe that the net has become more and more of a public megaphone, it is a digital shoulder to cry on. People seem to have a need for putting the most private thoughts in their Facebook status line. I do not blame them, even though I would not use Facebook as a substitute for a psychoanalyst. With this said, I would feel muzzled if the channels for expressing myself were reduced. If my employer actively searched for and entered my Facebook profile, he or she should know that they might find something unpleasant. It is like opening someone’s diary (not that I do), you are not in the position to expect only nice words after having trespassed on someone’s private area.
// Pär
Hi!
SvaraRaderaThank you all for your comments.
To Pär:
I don't mean that you shouldn't write nothing at Facebook. I like it and think you decide how personal you will be. That I mean was that you must take the consequences. I don't think you should write any inappropriate about a person. Especially if you can't say it to the person in "real" life.
// Sara