Productivity Metrics 😆 Naw, Surveillance.

16 Aug Productivity Metrics 😆 Naw, Surveillance.

–https://www.linkedin.com/news/story/whats-your-productivity-score-4901137/

Remember in The Avengers when Bruce Banner looks around and says, “So, this all seems horrible.” Yeah. It sure does.

This article from LI references one from The NY Times, which you can find here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/08/14/business/worker-productivity-tracking.html?referringSource=articleShare

I’ll be talking about this in more depth over on Patreon this weekend, but in the meantime, let’s take a look at this little slice of loveliness.

Let’s measure death:

“Each morning, Ms. Richardson and her colleagues had to project how many ‘productivity points’ they would accumulate during the day’s work. But death defied planning. But two years ago, her employer started requiring chaplains to accrue more of what it called ‘productivity points.’ A visit to the dying: as little as one point. Participating in a funeral: one and three-quarters points. A phone call to grieving relatives: one-quarter point.”

How do you even begin to do this? A phone call to the grief-stricken family is only 1/4 of a point. How TF do you even respond to that?!? Even on your way out, once you’ve escaped from your flesh suit, you still better be worth something to someone in a monetary way.

Here’s what it really boils down to IMO:

“Some employers are making a trade: ‘If we’re going to give up on bringing people back to the office, we’re not going to give up on managing productivity,’ said Paul Wartenberg, who installs monitoring systems for clients including accounting firms and hospitals.” (emphasis mine)

BINGO.

I’ve been ringing the alarm bell about this for quite some time. “If you don’t wanna toe the line and RTO, well, that’s fine fine, just fine. But we’re gonna make it as inhospitable as possible for you to WFH. So have fun with that!”

View at Medium.com

Yes, agreed, but… they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do!

Going all the way back to April:

When the Pendulum Swings…

Be naïve at your own risk! I can’t give you advice. My general rule of thumb is: I assume any bit of technology from someone else can and will be used for surveillance purposes. Maybe that sounds a bit paranoid, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

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