Saturday, January 19, 2008
Microsoft developing stressful software
Since the term Human Resources was first uttered into today’s corporate world, employers have been thinking of ways they can squeeze the most out of their employees in terms of efficiency and productivity. The concerns are of course that in by doing such they tend in effect reduce efficiency and productivity cause the business gets its staff so highly strung they end up with more stressed staff.
Call centre environments are indeed one area where this seems to occur the most, employers monitor incoming call rates, length the operator is on the call and the eventual outcome and even listen into the calls. Time away from the desk is also monitored to the second.
Outbound call centers are indeed stressful environments as the agent is technically invading someone’s personal time by calling them at home and is often met with great hostility. This makes it difficult for companies recruit staff, thus call centres like these tend to move over seas into lower social economic countries where the staff are expendable.
Sure staff need to be checked up on to make sure they are not breaching company guidelines, laws or safety obligations but how much snooping is a positive thing and how much actually detracts from the business. If an employee feels trusted and supported will he or she perform better than employee always under the thumb and constantly pushed for better results?
It now appears that Microsoft is developing software that may help employers to monitor the productivity, competence and physical well-being of employees while sitting at a distance. The software is so sophisticate that it will even reveal when an employee is stressed or frustrated by reading heartbeat and facial expressions.
Given what we have been discussing in this article is it any wonder that civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers are criticising this type of software technology and strongly voicing concerns that it may lead to employees’ dismissal on the basis of a computers assessment of their physiological state.
Call centre environments are indeed one area where this seems to occur the most, employers monitor incoming call rates, length the operator is on the call and the eventual outcome and even listen into the calls. Time away from the desk is also monitored to the second.
Outbound call centers are indeed stressful environments as the agent is technically invading someone’s personal time by calling them at home and is often met with great hostility. This makes it difficult for companies recruit staff, thus call centres like these tend to move over seas into lower social economic countries where the staff are expendable.
Sure staff need to be checked up on to make sure they are not breaching company guidelines, laws or safety obligations but how much snooping is a positive thing and how much actually detracts from the business. If an employee feels trusted and supported will he or she perform better than employee always under the thumb and constantly pushed for better results?
It now appears that Microsoft is developing software that may help employers to monitor the productivity, competence and physical well-being of employees while sitting at a distance. The software is so sophisticate that it will even reveal when an employee is stressed or frustrated by reading heartbeat and facial expressions.
Given what we have been discussing in this article is it any wonder that civil liberties groups and privacy lawyers are criticising this type of software technology and strongly voicing concerns that it may lead to employees’ dismissal on the basis of a computers assessment of their physiological state.
# posted by Peter Saville - IT Consultant @ 6:14 PM 
