Would you agree to wear a tracking device that told your boss not only where you were every second of the day, but also how loudly you were speaking, to whom you were speaking and how many people were in the group?
My gut instinct is to say not a chance. I’m the same person who, when the head of HR at one company I worked at decided that we had to code every phone call we made or received (topic, department, project, etc), flat out refused. I wouldn’t do it. Some of my coworkers joined me in the protest as we declared that we were adults who should be judged on our performance, not on an analysis of our phone calls. I suppose there was enough rebellion in this that even though my group was responsible for HR data analysis, none of that data ever appeared on my desk. If some other group did the analysis, I never heard about it.
To keep reading click here: What if your boss tracked your every move?
Really enjoying the data kick as of late.
Depends on the job. Call centers track every movement an employee makes, as well as all the time they are not signed on to take calls. The position is all about production with regard to the employee’s evaluations, raises and annual bonus. That makes perfect sense to me because it is a task oriented position and is typically paid by the hour. Even some exempt positions lend themselves to tracking (number of cold calls placed, number of sales appointments scheduled, sales pending, sales closing, etc.). That being said, most people don’t like being “tracked”, but it does at least show who is producing and who is not. High performers get increases & a bonus, and those who don’t make the grade have to shape up or ship out. The problem for me is more with the manager who can only manage in this type of scenario; when they get moved to managing employees who are not doing task oriented work those types of managers often have a hard time understanding that it is not all about “the busy work”.
I don’t think I could handle this. I’m like that one particular cat video–my first reaction is NO NO NO NO NO NO NO.
Just leave me alone and I’ll get my work done. 🙂
This is known as the Hawthorne Effect -http://psychology.about.com/od/hindex/g/def_hawthorn.htm –
When people know they are being studied, productivity increases, regardless of what kind of changes actually take place.
They do this sort of thing where I live (New Zealand). Only it’s not done by businesses but by the Department of Corrections. Some of their clients wear these instead of going to prison.
That would strongly colour my perceptions if I were asked to wear one.