<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/dec/14/pandemic-workers-surve...> One of the worst jobs I have ever had was made particularly bad by the micromanaging efforts of my manager’s boss. He seemed to spend all day skulking around, peering over the shoulders of junior staff to check that whatever we were doing looked like work. If he spotted someone doing something he considered untoward (usually reading the news or, on slow days, perhaps online shopping) he would come up behind them, point at the screen, wag his finger and say: “Not work!” Sometimes it actually was work, but there was no point in arguing. It was a frustrating and corrosive environment, and not conducive to getting things done. His measure of productivity was clearly a blunt instrument and, instead of fostering a motivated workplace, he created an atmosphere of jittery paranoia and low-level resentment. I think of him often (much more than I would like to), especially when I read anything about workplace surveillance. This term usually arises in the context of some new technology with alarming privacy implications that allows managers to track whatever employees are doing on their computers. But the concept is not a new one; the idea that people need to be constantly observed if they are to work efficiently dates back to Taylorist theories from the early 1900s about the best way to organise factory staff. During the pandemic, there has been a renewed sense of panic about the implications of companies monitoring their employees. Most office work has been conducted online, and surveillance methods have adapted accordingly. Companies that offer remote monitoring software have reported a surge of interest in their products. Issues have been raised about things such as where the data collected from Zoom calls is stored, and which other companies it might be shared with. The latest outcry happened last month, when it transpired that Microsoft 365, a software package released in 2019 that gives managers an overall rating of their team’s productivity by measuring things such as how many emails people are sending and who they are communicating with, also allows you to zero in on individuals. It’s possible to see how much people participate in group chats, and how much they contribute to shared documents. [...]