Assignment 1 - Snooping bosses
When I think that my employer is watching and monitoring me when I work I get upset, but why should I? I'm (usually...) not doing anything wrong when I'm working, so why can't he/she watch me? Maybe because I just don't like the feeling. I wouldn't like it if someone was standing behind me, watching me either. Perhaps it's because I don't like the feeling that he/she isn't trusting me to do my job even if I have never slipped before.
But say, if I WAS doing something wrong, and now I don't really mean anything illegal but more like visiting webpages I shouldn't while I'm supposed to work, then shouldn't my boss have the right to know this? Since he/she is the one paying me to sit there, shouldn't he/she be the one to decide what I'm to do with the time? And if I'm doing something that I shouldn't, then shouldn't he/she have the right to fire me?
But even I like to surf the web from time to time, and if I'm on break or have finished all my work for the time being, then I don't really see the wrong in doing so. I think that five minutes on Facebook may make me more efficient the rest of the time since I got it out of the system. I think people will be able to concentrate better if they're allowed to take small breaks every now and then, and if I want to surf on my break, then why not? But the employer should be able to see which pages I have visited and how much time I have spent there, so they know that people isn't just slacking.
So I think it's all right to monitor the employees to a certain degree while they're at work, but they should never be allowed to monitor people at home. They have nothing to do with what I'm doing at home, after working hours. If I'm doing something illegal, then it's up to the police to do something about it. Yeah, sure, it would be easyer to find the bad guys, like childmolesters, murderers and so on if we were all constantly supervised, but at what cost? I sure wouldn't want someone to be watching my every step every single day. I'd become paranoid.
And I mean, don't we all do things that we probably shouldn't sometimes? Like downloading our favorite music or movies (how many really stopped when that law came?) or lie about our age just to get the cheapest ticket for the bus? Or ignore those constant letters from Radiotjänst, asking you if you have a TV or not? Or even cross the street even though it's a red light?
And the fact that possible future employers nowadays Google every candidate for the job before hiring them really freaks me out. Not that I really have some pictures or texts on the net that I wouldn't want a future employer to see, but then I don't really know what they are looking for or what they actually interprets in my texts. If I write that I for example totally partyed my ass off on Saturday and that I was oh so hungover on Sunday, then they may think that this mean that I'm not so reliable when it comes to work, even though they have absolutely nothing to do with each other...
That last one may be a bit off-topic, but still, it's about supervising people, and I just don't like it. It may be necessary sometimes, but I still just don't like it.
I have to say that I agree on everything you are writing about in this text; I am also a little ambivalent when it comes to monitoring employees. I do understand both sides, and I think companies, to some degree, should be able to monitor their employees during working hours but they should never, as you mentioned, be allowed to monitor people when they have finished work. My idea is that the software that is helping the employer to monitor their employees should be used in another sense. What if the software instead of helping the employer to spy, helped the employees to keep track of their surfing, perhaps a clock should appear every time an employee is visiting for example Facebook or Gmail. I think it should be allowed for employees to do a little bit of surfing during working hours, as you mentioned perhaps an employee wants to spend time on the internet instead of having a coffee break with co-workers. However, how much time an employee should be allowed to use on the internet has to regulated or discussed within the companies. The bosses should have an ongoing discussion with their employees instead of spying on them. I think both the supervisors and the employees would be much happier and more satisfied if that happened. Employers and employees have to work on their trust to each other, this is important both for the atmosphere in the working place and for the future of the company.
Good writing, I am looking forward to read your next blog!
At first your comments about the article felt a bit passive but it felt like you got more and more opinions the more you wrote wich i thought was interesting.
I think snooping can be a good thing when done the right way. I also think employees don't mind beeing checked on at work as long as they do nothing wrong and only surf the net on their brakes a few minutes a day.
I agree that employers shouldn't have the right to check up on their employees at home. That is entirely the employees business.
Thank you for a pleasent reading. Im looking forward to reading more.
*Please ignore. This is just a test on behalf of a fellow student. :-)*
