Cameras and apps that monitor zombies ... This is how managers monitor their remote employees

Many government and private companies and institutions are managed from home after the emergence of the new Corona virus led to the ban in most countries of the world, but the departments of these institutions and companies are still looking for ways to monitor the performance of work from home, using monitoring programs and cameras.

In his report, published by the Washington Post, the author, Drew Harwell, said that when the Corona virus closed the headquarters of the Kansas High Story magazine, a magazine concerned with agricultural trade for peasants and livestock keepers in the Midwest, Digital Marketing Director James decided Los recreate the entire office experience online.

The magazine’s employees were asked to create a digital photo and spend the day working in a virtual office full of chat rooms, with a water cooler where the workers can hold their regular chats. Staff were advised to keep their webcams and microphones at home ready and ready, making live natural conversations just a click away.

And companies around the world are seeking ways to ensure their employees ’productivity through monitoring and tracing, with the goal of making sure they are committed to working from home.

Monitoring programs everywhere
Thousands of companies use monitoring programs to record employees ’web browsing and actual working hours, and they also monitor employees themselves and keep their Web cameras always running with programming to ensure attendance three times a day. 

Company leaders say that the systems are designed to enhance productivity and make the quiet isolation provided by teleworking more enjoyable and connected, but some employees report that all monitoring mechanisms have shaken the boundaries between their work and their personal lives, increasing their stress and stress at a difficult time for all family members due to the presence Continuously at home. 

The author quoted David Heinemar Hanson, co-founder of "Pace Camp" for remote work programs, as saying that companies impose strict control mechanisms on employees because of their lack of confidence in them being motivated to work on their own.

Hanson added that the complete closings caused by the spread of the virus prompted some managers to present this surveillance as the language of the new era to reunite employees and keep them motivated, thereby disguising the fact that these mechanisms are in fact to monitor employees.

"What people really crave is human contact," Hanson stressed. "You will not get better, deeper, and more creative work by subjecting people to more stringent monitoring procedures than ever before." In addition, many companies allow managers to take pictures of employee screens regularly, classifying them according to their activity and number of working hours during the previous seven days. 

The writer mentioned that you can download the system "Intergard" in a hidden way on employees ’computers, and create an accurate schedule for each application and website they see, as the system classifies each of them as" productive "or" unproductive "according to their" degree of productivity, "as the system alerts managers In the event of a staff member said something suspicious.

In addition, the Intergard system can record all workers' emails, instant messages and keystrokes, and take screen pictures repeatedly every five seconds, which managers can view as they wish.

In this regard, Brad Miller, CEO of the parent company of the "Orange Technologies" based in Connecticut, said that the work is booming now for their system, as hundreds of companies per week now ask about the possibility of using employee monitoring tools, and describe the companies that are not closely monitored. The daily work of its employees as "financially irresponsible".

Alison Green, whose popular blog "Ask a Director" is a column for advice on the workplace, said she noticed workers' anxiety about the growing demands of their bosses while working from home.

Many employees indicated that they face great tension over the change of their job responsibilities, at a difficult time because of the possibility of layoffs or cut wages for their companies, and with uncertainty about whether their industrial sector will remain resilient during the crisis.

However, they are reluctant to speak of continuous monitoring, fearing that any criticism they open may join the ranks of more than 30 million Americans who have applied for unemployment benefits since mid-March.

"It is really disappointing to feel that you have done a good job for a company, perhaps for many years, and have a strong and reliable work record, but they treat you as if you were spending your day watching YouTube. People are not working well under this type of surveillance and even At the best of times. "

On the other hand, a Tennessee digital marketing worker - speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of punishing her employer - said that the huge number of verifications via email, calls, text messages and video calls using the Zoom app, made her team feel "incredibly pressure" .

In fact, not all applications portray themselves as "working police", for example, the "Braglley" application brings employees closer together. Bragley's CEOs claim that traditional methods of communicating at work - such as email communication - do not work when it comes to social communication, since they are not effective in combating loneliness and enhancing communication when working from home. In contrast, the Braglley video chat system creates this sense of teamwork.

Braglly is designed to enhance productivity, as the company's chief executives believe that productivity brings employee happiness and satisfaction. The "Braglie" system measures the use of the keyboard and mouse for employees to assess how effective they are during work and whether they are working or not, that is, after more than 15 seconds have passed since there is no evidence to prove the employee's activity, the employee's status can shift from "active" to " Inactive". The application also allows anyone to start a video chat instantly by clicking on the image of any colleague. Therefore, the app service recommends that users keep their webcams and microphones running at all times.

Del Cory, co-founder of the Snake app, said this app allows employees to send funny pictures of their colleagues called "Snape Snape." Corrie explained that these periodic photos were designed to help remote teams feel a sense of teamwork and rapprochement across the web. Also, this system may be more humane than e-mail and other ways to communicate in the workplace.

The writer mentioned the obstacles caused by the technology supported social monitoring, such as the "Employee Attention Tracking" service in the "Zoom" application that alerts the call host when a participant is distracted during the call, which angered many employees. Accordingly, the application has removed this feature.