8 ms·
Woman fired after company uses keystroke tech to see how she's working from home
- kylecazar 3y agoWorth highlighting that the keylogger was imposed on the employee after they had missed deadlines and showed poor performance... Presumably as an incentive to actually work, which I guess wasn't effective.
- toomuchtodo 3y agoArticle mentions mental health issues were a factor.
- dajtxx 3y agoThat is not worth highlighting. This sort of behaviour by companies continues the dehumanisation of the workforce and should be unconditionally condemned. Anyone who thinks this is reasonable can only be stuck in an SV bubble like people who push the gig economy knowing they’ll only ever benefit from it, not be subject to it.
- bdcravens 3y agoWhat standards should they apply to determining whether her employment should be continued? I'm guessing that it's harder to release employees in Australia than in the US, since by most standards here, she would have lost her job well before the keyboard tracking was applied. (based on the accusations of her work performance)
- jkestner 3y agoTrue. Maybe the why is obvious to an Australian audience, but I’m not seeing why missing meetings and performance goals wasn’t enough to fire her. Regardless, measuring keystrokes sounds as dumb as lines of code.
- barryvan 3y agoIn Australia, you need to make sure you have all your documentation lined up and iron-clad before you let someone go. Most companies I know of avoid firing, preferring to "encourage individuals to explore other opportunities" as this bypasses all of the complexities of unfair dismissal [1]. [1] https://www.fwc.gov.au/job-loss-or-dismissal/unfair-dismissal/about-unfair-dismissal/what-unfair-dismissal https://www.fwc.gov.au/job-loss-or-dismissal/unfair-dismissa...
- jkestner 3y agoSure, and I support that, but the usual documentation of performance reviews, OKRs, etc aren't enough? (I don't know how any of this works, having not worked a real job.) Surprised management is so eager to automate their own jobs.
- bagacrap 3y agoAre you telling me that you could find a way to accomplish your job with just 54 keystrokes per hour? This comment alone would take you the entire morning.
- jkestner 3y agoI'm telling you I can find a way to _not_ accomplish my job with as many keystrokes as you require. Goodhart's Law, etc.
- Turskarama 3y agoTraditionally you would go into perfomance review, where you would be checked up on regularly to see how your work is going and what roadblocks you are encountering. No logging necessary, just some face to face time (which you could also do over zoom, btw). If the employees performance stays bad despite roadblocks being handled, then it isn't really important whether or not it's bad because they aren't typing enough. Of course this requires management to actually do their job, and unlike the other employees their metrics don't seem to include them actually doing any work.
- dotnet00 3y agoHer output isn't merely to press keys, she's supposed to be producing something with those keypresses, being able to show a lack of delivery on that work despite repeated chances given should be sufficient. No need to get so invasive.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- qwertimus 3y agoIt makes me so uncomfortable to see staff like this justify the use of these monitoring technologies. Employees are increasingly treating their staff like children, and with headlines like this, it seems increasingly appropriate.
- brutusborn 3y agoI don’t particularly like it but in this case it worked well: it identified someone who wasn’t working and then saved the company from litigation. As long as companies don’t use it as some kind of metric then I don’t see an issue. I don’t assume privacy in the office, so why should my work be private?
- Tozen 3y agoIf anything, such companies using keyloggers should be forced to openly state such practices to any potential employees. If they are really so proud of it, then don't be sneaky, let potential employees know about such practices and choose not to work for them. Companies that need keyloggers, often have dysfunctional management and processes to evaluate employees, so need to resort to such desperate measures.
- pavel_lishin 3y agoQuestion 1: Why did her employer need a keystroke monitor to build a case to fire her, when she was clearly not meeting expectations? Question 2: why does this news story need to plaster her face all over the article multiple times?
- zamadatix 3y agoWell, they did get a legal case thrown at them about it. Probably easier and cheaper to stockpile more hard evidence than is likely needed than risk having too little when the court cases come around.
- decremental 3y ago[dead]
- brutusborn 3y ago1. because it is in Australia where you need good reason to fire someone, and disgruntled people litigate. 2. I don’t like the privacy implications. However it sounds like her litigation was baseless so at least making her visible helps future employers avoid her and risk of litigation.
- foepys 3y agoWhy would anyone want to push somebody into homelessness or into permanent reliance on government subsidies because they cannot find work only because they screwed up? Imagine saying something controversial on social media and having that plastered all over the web.
- brutusborn 3y agoI don’t want to do any such thing. I want people to stop abusing the judicial system. She didn’t work, she was fired and she sued. I think it’s good if other businesses are aware of her behaviour. Unless your business is media or heavily linked to public perception, your controversial opinions should be irrelevant to work. This is different to a worker who doesn’t do their work and sues, that is _very_ relevant to future work. Your premise is also incorrect: there are businesses that are happy to take on extra risk and will happily employ felons or other black sheep. Many people are willing to give a second chance, but they should be aware that they are giving a second chance.
- firesteelrain 3y agoWe need more information as the article is made to sound like the employee was lazy. Maybe something else going on. We will never know
- jkestner 3y agoGraphic designers, Mouse Odometer is coming (back) for you. https://www.macintoshrepository.org/33350-mouse-odometer https://www.macintoshrepository.org/33350-mouse-odometer
- regpertom 3y agoDoes anyone else get reminded of snow crash feds with stuff like this? I know when I’m sent a company document on company servers I behave like Yt’s mum. First except I found https://www.deaneckles.com/blog/700_docsend_in_snow_crash/ https://www.deaneckles.com/blog/700_docsend_in_snow_crash/
- vlark 3y agoAh, Unilad.com, one of the most trusted of news sites! When every single link on the page leads to another page on the same base domain, you know you are dealing with a site that pedals in nothing but clickbait. Move along, nothing to see here.
- hsjqllzlfkf 3y ago> On average she was pressing her keyboard 54 times an hour during the periods in which she was being monitored.
- gumballindie 3y ago> missed deadlines and meetings, been difficult to contact and had cost her employer a fine after failing to complete a task Nah, she wasn't fired due to keystroke "tech". She was fired due to performance issues that she attributes to mental health problems. Burnout is the first thing that comes to mind that might prevent people from performing as well as they should.
- toyg 3y agoShe can't be very bright - says that nobody hires her because the fact she was fired went viral, complains of that to a newspaper. Keylogging on employee workstations is a Bad Thing, but some people really take the piss - and risk ruining it for the rest of us. Hopefully this sort of event continues to be the exception to the rule.
- footlose_3815 3y agoWhy is the clickbait Facebook company writing news articles
- kirykl 3y agoBeing in an office doesn’t mean she’d be sufficiently keystroking either