I tend to believe in the goodness of humanity.
Except when it comes to love and money.
Especially except when it comes to the love of money.
So when working from home[1] became compulsory for many, I worried some companies might take advantage.
Some fine bosses have decided this is the perfect moment to spy on their employees, with the rise of helpfully intrusive new software[2].
And then there's this. The company that insists employees are on Zoom[3] all the time.
Writing to workplace advice columnist Alison Green in New York magazine's The Cut[4], a troubled employee revealed that her -- unnamed, for obvious reasons -- company was now on one lifelong Zoom call.
Speaking of her boss, the employee said: "He framed it as being for our benefit: useful for 'establishing a work-life balance' and so we can 'see our co-workers and feel like we're back in the office.'"
Some might feel establishing a work-life balance doesn't involve revealing your apartment/bedroom/living room to everyone at work. All day. Some might also feel that being on camera all the time isn't entirely like being back in the office, but being back in the USSR circa 1958.
This boss, though, seems to believe Zooming permanence has a multitude of benefits.
"Plus, it's supposedly so we can 'ask questions without having to take meetings,'" explained the employee. And there I was thinking that the way most people used to ask questions in offices was via Slack or IM.
Oddly, this company didn't, pre-pandemic, have all its employees in a single office anyway. Yet here they are actually being required to be on constant, and very candid, camera, dressed for work.
The