He is your employer Monitor mouse clickskeystrokes or webcam? What about you location or pace of work? If so, the White House wants to hear from you—from the frontiers of the digitally-enabled professional panopticon.
on this fine may day (aka International Labor Day), the Biden administration’s Office of Science and Technology Policy released a dossier General request for information (RFI) in terms of worker monitoring and all the different ways that employers are trying to automate productivity tracking.
Deidre Mulligan, OSTP Vice President, wrote in: Blog on Monday. “While these technologies can benefit both workers and employers in some cases, they can also create serious risks for workers.”
The post goes on to outline some miscellaneous items This monitoring can harm. From the White House statement:
Constant performance tracking can lead workers to move too quickly at work, putting their safety and mental health at risk. Monitoring conversations can deter workers from exercising their rights to organize and bargain collectively with employers. And when combined with employer decisions about wages, discipline, and promotion, automated monitoring can lead to workers being treated differently or discriminated against.
With the shift to remote hiring that has come along with the covid-19 pandemic, there have been many technology companies and others Leading new efforts to watch their workers. Whereas Amazon and gig-based companies like Uber have been Move towards comprehensive surveillance in Warehouses And vehicles for years.
At the start of the newly announced investigation, the OSTP is seeking to gather more information from both workers and employers. The office hopes to hear some first-hand experiences from people who have tried or deployed such surveillance in the workplace, as well as people who are studying its effects. Also, if you have any “ideas about how the federal government might respond to any relevant risks and opportunities,” related to productivity monitoring programs and technology, feel free to tell the government.
Responses to RFIs must be submitted by June 15 via email at workerurveillance@ostp.eop.gov or through the federal eRulemaking Portal.