Technology and work ethics

[Winterfrost]

I understand the importance of monitoring workers to ascertain there level of productivity, and to improve workers attendance and also enhance Cyber security but then, the inability of most management to go about this ethically has been of great concern to me.

this answers it all. You know, most workers if not monitored wouldn't want to do their jobs and would normally sit back and use office hours for personal gains at the detriment of the jobs they are supposed to be doing. It's true they have thier individual rights to privacy but such right has limitations and one of it major limitations is in instance as this when management has to ensure that her staff is as productive as possible.

Major institutions like banks, warehouse, hospitals etc that mount CCTV cameras in their working environment always let their staffs know that CCTV Camara are in there offices so they can protect sensitive private information that's outside of the companies jurisdiction. Toilets and any convince positions are always left out when installing CCTV cameras and we can only talk about bridge in work ethics when CCTV cameras are mounted in private places like the toilet or dressing room.

[davis196]

So you are assuming that it's unethical that the employers are monitoring their employees? Why?
There's no such thing as "worker's privacy". Any individual can have absolute privacy only inside his/her own home. Outside of your home, you can't have absolute privacy. The employees are required to be productive, that's the main reason they are being paid. No employer is going to tolerate employees, who check their FB or IG feeds every five minutes during the 8 hour shift. On the other hand, if the employer uses technology to spy on his employees in order to gather sensitive information about their personal life, this is not just unethical. It is supposed to be illegal as well.

[sunsilk]

It's normal to have your offices and any premise of the company to be monitored and have them recorded in CCTV. If you're even going to work remotely, they might ask you to open your webcam and have those tools to have it monitored your productivity and if you're really working at all.

That's a common thing that you'll get to have when you work corporately. If you don't want to get micromanaged by the company, you should start your own start up and have to see on how you will react to protect your company and max out every second that's being spent by your workers.

Having these ways of managing the office and any procedure of the company isn't unethical, this is a common process of any business that you'd see and even in the government offices, they have the same thing.

[AVE5]

I understand that working environments where the CCTV are installed are places where the managements have doubts about the presentations or work outputs of the workers for where they're in doubts of security outlets.
So on cases like this privacies shouldn't be a priority to the workers but to deliver their jobs cordially without a Contrarily dispute. Your work place is not your home of relaxation of observation your privacies unless the nature of the privacy observant is a term to designated by the organization or company.
That also has made some jonkey workers moderating and comporting themselves knowing that eyes are watching them from afar. So I can say that the applications of cctvs in an organization at where it's required is a grate development.

[ringgo96]

I think having access and being able to monitor your employees is not the main concern here but rather the lack of consent. The employees are still entitled to privacy if they wanted to and if they did agree of this kind of set-up then the company has no rights or whatsoever to monitor them secretly.

Actually everything that has been arranged in each company is indeed to create something more positive, but everything has a limit and there are some things that are indeed private private that should not be accessed by the company, otherwise all will be pressure for employees and they will definitely look for other places that are more comfortable, because each company has a different way of supervising employees so this depends on the CEO of the company they work for, Most importantly, with the era of increasingly sophisticated technology, we must be able to make the best use of it.

[God bless u]

Everything comes with a cost whether it's technology or anything else. Now here the technical aspects have revolutionised the world by their impacts but the point you raised is valid that the privacy is disturbed. The point here is no one cares about your opinion on that to be completely fair with you.

The company owners have been so blunt nowadays because the jobs have decreased and they have a number of people waiting in the queue. They will not bother with any suggestions from the staff until they feel comfortable to apply the recommendations. There are some good examples as well I'm not in a denial to them but that's very rare.

[shield132]

We can't dispute the fact that the advent of technology has played a great role in improving activities in the workplace. With the networking of the different PCs in companies, it has become easy to send a broadcast message to all staff at a time, and coupled with other sophisticated technology, coordinating and controlling multiple workers has become easier which has resulted in a high level of productivity and an increase in the staff to management relationships.

The main achievement of technology was that it made absolutely everything easier. It's easy and fast to do hard, complex calculations, it becomes possible to book things from home, it's possible to connect with friends, it's possible to buy things and trade with different parts of the world from your home or office, it's possible to work from your home to a different country. Many things became possible thanks to technology and it accelerated absolutely everything and every process in the world.

But then, the issue of workers' privacy and management compliance with work ethics has been of serious concern, and to a very large extent, it always appears as though most management has always used technology to the disadvantage of her staff. You find situations where CCTV cameras are mounted in most offices and privacy is denied to its peak. Most PCs used by staff are always under serious surveillance and sometimes, staff's don't even have a single knowledge that they are being monitored, and whenever they get a bit flimsy, their job is threatened.

It definitely affected work ethics. While modern technology reduces the privacy of workers, it increases the workforce by controlling what they do in the office or factory and it also saves a company from employees stealing things from them. While it affects workers privacy, companies don't care about that and the world favours rich (company owners).

[Apocollapse]

You don't have to use your "main accounts", you need to separate your main accounts for your personal need and secondary accounts for business. So, you don't have to worry your employer and your colleagues disturb your privacy.

If you think it's not enough (because you didn't want your activity gets tracked by CCTV), you sue the company if you can find the laws in your country if it's forbidden to completely track the employees' activities.

[Youngkhngdiddy]

We can't dispute the fact that the advent of technology has played a great role in improving activities in the workplace. With the networking of the different PCs in companies, it has become easy to send a broadcast message to all staff at a time, and coupled with other sophisticated technology, coordinating and controlling multiple workers has become easier which has resulted in a high level of productivity and an increase in the staff to management relationships.

But then, the issue of workers' privacy and management compliance with work ethics has been of serious concern, and to a very large extent, it always appears as though most management has always used technology to the disadvantage of her staff. You find situations where CCTV cameras are mounted in most offices and privacy is denied to its peak. Most PCs used by staff are always under serious surveillance and sometimes, staff's don't even have a single knowledge that they are being monitored, and whenever they get a bit flimsy, their job is threatened.

I understand the importance of monitoring workers to ascertain there level of productivity, and to improve workers attendance and also enhance Cyber security but then, the inability of most management to go about this ethically has been of great concern to me.

What's your view about this?

 We are hyperdomesticating ourselves. Many aspects of our lives have been made easier through various technologies. Only a small fraction of our population would be able to survive without modern tools in the wild. Some of us depend on technology to such an extent that we would just die without modern medicine. Technology has grown on to be our bodily extension which we cannot live without. As much good it is doing to the globe, it is also laying its footprint on us. You may never know what arsenal of weapon you are carrying along unless its effect begins to turn evident. Overall, technology has had a profound impact on society, changing the way we live, work, and interact with each other. While technology has brought many benefits, it is important to carefully consider the potential consequences and work to address any negative impacts it may have.
 One thing that comes to mind is that machines are improving constantly and are becoming more intelligent and efficient, and as we rely on them to do our work, we are required to be decreasingly intelligent ourselves. Imagine when machines will be self-sustaining, self-repairing, self-improving, and self-reproducing ie able to design and build new machines. We won’t even need to be designing, building or coding them. So, through evolution, we might lose our intelligence and simply become consuming, hedonistic creatures. And we may eventually become so unintelligent that we lose the evolution race and become extinct. I suppose this is another version of the belief that “AI will kill mankind”, but in this version AI machines will not retaliate against humans, or do anything directly to exterminate them.

[naira]

I understand the importance of monitoring workers to ascertain there level of productivity, and to improve workers attendance and also enhance Cyber security but then, the inability of most management to go about this ethically has been of great concern to me.

What's your view about this?

As long as their work is completed with the targets that have been set and provides satisfaction with what is in their field then in my opinion such monitoring is no longer relevant. On the other hand, if staff are observed carrying out unethical actions or violating work rules and this is supported by poor work results, the company has the right to impose sanctions or dismiss them. So, if you want to return to the final result, if it is positive, but in the middle of work, you commit a violation, the consequence is only limited to an early warning, because the staff is still saved by their satisfactory work.

[el kaka22]

When you are at work, and you are working at their office, it is sort of makes sense to be under watch, isn't it? They have the right to check if you are working or not. We are not talking about what you are doing during your break time, or the toilets, we are talking about literally just the fact that you are building something in that company and you want to see what the people who build it are making as well.

I understand that sometimes it is not the same thing and you want some privacy but then you go home after work and you are free there. It is your work computer and it's their office, if you do not want to be checked constantly if you are working or not, then go find a freelancer job and do that at home without being watched by anyone.

[AicecreaME]

I think there's no need for privacy in your office desk unless the camera is under your table and using it for something very inappropriate, but if it's just on your PC like monitoring your work, that's not a problem at all if you're doing your job correctly. You're gonna find it annoying if you're doing something else in your working hours and you don't want it to find out by your senior or your boss.

But if you're just not comfortable with it when you're working, ask the HR about it so you can decide whether to accept the job or not.

[Natsuu]

Well tech in the workplace makes things run smoother but the snooping is a real issue. Sure it boosts productivity but when there's no heads up about cameras or computer spying, it messes with privacy. It's like they're exploiting tech to keep tabs on us instead of trusting the team. Finding a middle ground between tech benefits and basic respect is key. Let's keep it transparent and make sure everyone's on board with how we use these tools so work stays productive without compromising people's privacy

[Sorryfor]

There are of course some difficulties with the development of technology. Cameras are currently used in offices to protect privacy and have their own rationale for doing so. They can do this for different needs of the company And if you act properly as a good worker, you shouldn't have any problem if they take control of your PC or other devices. Since they do this in the interest of the company, most of the chances are they get various benefits through it And because of doing this, the workers who are somewhat evasive will refrain from this.

[angrybirdy]

I think there's no need for privacy in your office desk unless the camera is under your table and using it for something very inappropriate, but if it's just on your PC like monitoring your work, that's not a problem at all if you're doing your job correctly. You're gonna find it annoying if you're doing something else in your working hours and you don't want it to find out by your senior or your boss.

But if you're just not comfortable with it when you're working, ask the HR about it so you can decide whether to accept the job or not.

that's right, maybe in the beginning we are not totally used to such set up but if that is one of the basic needs of the company to protect their system from possible hacking incidents then there is no issue, we have to accept their rules because we work for them, and so that they can monitor the movements of a person on the computer because whether we admit it or not, even if we are told not to open any site that is not related to work, we still do it, right? that's why so many companies today are more restrictive.

[alastantiger]

What's your view about this?

There is nothing wrong in monitoring your staff. However, it becomes stalking and unethical if the company doesn't let their staff know that they are being monitored. In fact it should be in their contract form to sign that they would be monitored during the work hours.

If I put myself in the shoes of the founder of the organization, I would justify my actions because I want my staff to be productive. Productivity entails revenue for the organization which translates to the staff getting paid and the continuity of the company.

Unproductivity will result in bankruptcy and result in high turnover from the staff.

[Wexnident]

~

Surveillance in the workplace isn't anything new imo. If it were of a more private place then yea your argument can take into effect, but then again workplaces aren't private places for employees. Things might change if they were being secretly monitored though but that's another issue.

There are certain limits to it though. It's not like a person, regardless of their job, will need to do their task 24/7. Micromanaging is one of the worst things you can ever do to "boost" productivity and well, some managers are dumb enough to do this. Granted they're just sometimes placed on a job where they don't even know how they do their job so they just micro-manage. The problem most likely stems from management being capable of, well, management-level skills, but not the main skills of the people they're managing. You gotta understand something to govern about it imo. At that point it's not really an ethical problem, just a miscommunication of sorts.

[Assface16678]

I think there's no need for privacy in your office desk unless the camera is under your table and using it for something very inappropriate, but if it's just on your PC like monitoring your work, that's not a problem at all if you're doing your job correctly. You're gonna find it annoying if you're doing something else in your working hours and you don't want it to find out by your senior or your boss.

But if you're just not comfortable with it when you're working, ask the HR about it so you can decide whether to accept the job or not.

that's right, maybe in the beginning we are not totally used to such set up but if that is one of the basic needs of the company to protect their system from possible hacking incidents then there is no issue, we have to accept their rules because we work for them, and so that they can monitor the movements of a person on the computer because whether we admit it or not, even if we are told not to open any site that is not related to work, we still do it, right? that's why so many companies today are more restrictive.

I think it is implemented in every private sector or private companies about thr restrictions in the office hardwares, I personally work in a bank as a developer and yes they have rules and restrictions in using their company devices but not to the ooint that wehenver they wane they can open and access our devices, we still have our privacy but of course if theres an annomaly happening in your device then they will take actions, in short they have rules and regulayions but still we have our own privacy, but that's not the case in other company but that's how they secure and keep they company safe from unwanted incidents, human error are one of the cause why there are news about company or establishment being compromised its because the hackers used the people mistakes and take advantage on it. So if you are an employee in that kind of company, you have no choice but to follow.

[Mame89]

What's your view about this?

In my opinion, installing CCTV as surveillance is very reasonable in a company environment because as time goes by, CCTV seems to have become a necessity for a company or office. Because it is proven by the number of criminal acts or other negative things, CCTV is very important even if it is installed in the employees' rooms as employees. Not without reason, CCTV installation has become a necessity as a security tool in companies. Especially in large companies, installing CCTV has become an option and a mandatory requirement to improve security and surveillance.

Because the benefits of CCTV apart from monitoring and security, having CCTV will also prevent crime, provide evidence for legal cases and of course save security costs. So a company that installs CCTV in every employee's room does not violate privacy and ethics. However, if CCTV is installed in the bathroom it will violate privacy and of course there is no ethics.

[letteredhub]

I understand the importance of monitoring workers to ascertain there level of productivity, and to improve workers attendance and also enhance Cyber security but then, the inability of most management to go about this ethically has been of great concern to me.

What's your view about this?

I don't see anything wrong with management trying to maximize their productivity of their worker by installing CCTV on the work area and not on the rest rooms. Going about it ethically is by getting employees informed about it or by not installing it in secret places but places where you don't need to be told about it while you are in work areas. I don't support workers being wasteful during work hours or using work time for personal gains and business. There are some workers who will sleep all through work hours or take such time to secretly go away from work to probably visit their wives  and yet they want to be paid at the end of the month. Therefore, installation of CCTV to monitor workers is more creative and meant to get workers to utilize work hours for the work that they are paid for. Moreover, it also help to check insecurities around the company.

Agreed with you, aside from the rest room in an office environment I don't think there should be a place where CCTV cameras are not meant to be mounted for watch. It breaks that awareness for workers to act appropriately in accordance with management policies and regulations and also with that, workers can't cheat the company of working hours. Lateness and other unwelcomed attitudes will be put in check so as to improve and sustain productivity. In as much as a company treats it's staffs well in terms of numeration and welfare, monitoring of ataffs shouldn't cause a headache.