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The surveillance proliferation reflects a fundamental workplace cultural transformation driven by counterculture influence on professional norms. Traditional w

The surveillance proliferation reflects a fundamental workplace cultural transformation driven by counterculture influence on professional norms. Traditional workplace governance relied upon internalized behavioral standards eg duty, shame, professional integrity, functioning as self-regulating mechanisms. The systematic erosion of these cultural guardrails necessitated external monitoring systems substituting for previously internalized accountability. The “trust but verify” approach emerged from practical necessity of maintaining organizational functionality within a workforce increasingly disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability.

stego-tech 1y ago
> The “trust but verify” approach emerged from practical necessity of maintaining organizational functionality within a workforce increasingly disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability. This sticks out in my head as completely divorced from the practical reality of the modern workplace circa the past fifty years. Every single KPI has gone up: productivity, imports, exports, revenues, share price, deliverables, margins, you name it. The counter-culture cited to justify these sorts of highly invasive spyware deployments is merely the reaction of a workforce to stagnant wages and deteriorating standards of living in the face of an economy that has left them behind, a monied class that loathes their existence, and governments who can’t be bothered to listen to their grievances over the sound of a $25k-per-plate fundraising dinner. Workers aren’t the problem, here, and surveillance does nothing to actually improve things for the majority of society. To suggest “counter-culture” is the issue is akin to suggesting queer people are responsible for military overspending as opposed to unaccountable defense contractors and PMCs, or that the National Debt is the fault of immigrants as opposed to a government apparatus that fails elementary school maths. There is no “counter-culture” causing a problem in the workplace requiring surveillance, it’s a handful of people at the top of the organization trying to keep as much for themselves as possible demanding said surveillance to protect their own positions and interests - which conveniently happen to be directly opposed to the needs and demands of their workers.
- tiahura 1y ago
  Kpis up b/c of tech.
dogleash 1y ago
> counterculture influence on professional norms > disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability I wonder what world you think used to exist. "I don't want to X, but this time it's different and my hand is forced." That's a millenniums-old cope for doing shit you always wanted to do, but needed a way to not feel bad about.
const_cast 1y ago
> The “trust but verify” approach emerged from practical necessity of maintaining organizational functionality within a workforce increasingly disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability. This shift in workforce attitudes is because companies have shifted their view of labor. Labor is now fungible, and labor is not an investment, it's a necessary evil. In order to have self-motivated employees you need to reward loyalty and build incentives where employees do their best because that ends up being what's best for them. Companies, pretty much all of them, decided this was both too much work and too expensive. So they gave up. The reality is that workers don't give a flying fuck because not caring is the best way to progress your career. Job hopping, resume building, lying - these strategies work. Being a leader, shaking things up, even being honest - these backfire. Companies don't want good workers. They want yes men, warm bodies, people who don't think too much. And they got that. So, everyone should be happy.
- tiahura 1y ago
  > In order to have self-motivated employees you need to reward loyalty and build incentives where employees do their best because that ends up being what's best for them. Companies, pretty much all of them, decided this was both too much work and too expensive. So they gave up. Agreed. In the end, the public’s revealed preference for “cheap” made it hard for companies to justify the cost of investing in employee motivation.
chairmansteve 1y ago
You have a point, but I think the distrust was initiated by the Thatcher/Reagan neo liberal turn. In the early 80s, I remember mass layoffs in the headlines every day. Often older, long term employees, who were more expensive. And company share prices would go up on those announcements. When I started my professional career in 1986, I was fully aware I was an expendable cog. It didn't make me less professional, but it did make me less loyal. I wasn't planning to work for the same company for 40 years. Sure enough, 5 years later, the company was acquired and virtually every employee fired. 2000 people. Many of whom had given 20 years to the company. The acquirer just wanted our customers.

stego-tech 1y ago

> The “trust but verify” approach emerged from practical necessity of maintaining organizational functionality within a workforce increasingly disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability. This sticks out in my head as completely divorced from the practical reality of the modern workplace circa the past fifty years. Every single KPI has gone up: productivity, imports, exports, revenues, share price, deliverables, margins, you name it. The counter-culture cited to justify these sorts of highly invasive spyware deployments is merely the reaction of a workforce to stagnant wages and deteriorating standards of living in the face of an economy that has left them behind, a monied class that loathes their existence, and governments who can’t be bothered to listen to their grievances over the sound of a $25k-per-plate fundraising dinner. Workers aren’t the problem, here, and surveillance does nothing to actually improve things for the majority of society. To suggest “counter-culture” is the issue is akin to suggesting queer people are responsible for military overspending as opposed to unaccountable defense contractors and PMCs, or that the National Debt is the fault of immigrants as opposed to a government apparatus that fails elementary school maths. There is no “counter-culture” causing a problem in the workplace requiring surveillance, it’s a handful of people at the top of the organization trying to keep as much for themselves as possible demanding said surveillance to protect their own positions and interests - which conveniently happen to be directly opposed to the needs and demands of their workers.

tiahura 1y ago
Kpis up b/c of tech.

dogleash 1y ago

> counterculture influence on professional norms > disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability I wonder what world you think used to exist. "I don't want to X, but this time it's different and my hand is forced." That's a millenniums-old cope for doing shit you always wanted to do, but needed a way to not feel bad about.

const_cast 1y ago

> The “trust but verify” approach emerged from practical necessity of maintaining organizational functionality within a workforce increasingly disconnected from traditional concepts of professional duty and self-accountability. This shift in workforce attitudes is because companies have shifted their view of labor. Labor is now fungible, and labor is not an investment, it's a necessary evil. In order to have self-motivated employees you need to reward loyalty and build incentives where employees do their best because that ends up being what's best for them. Companies, pretty much all of them, decided this was both too much work and too expensive. So they gave up. The reality is that workers don't give a flying fuck because not caring is the best way to progress your career. Job hopping, resume building, lying - these strategies work. Being a leader, shaking things up, even being honest - these backfire. Companies don't want good workers. They want yes men, warm bodies, people who don't think too much. And they got that. So, everyone should be happy.

tiahura 1y ago
> In order to have self-motivated employees you need to reward loyalty and build incentives where employees do their best because that ends up being what's best for them. Companies, pretty much all of them, decided this was both too much work and too expensive. So they gave up. Agreed. In the end, the public’s revealed preference for “cheap” made it hard for companies to justify the cost of investing in employee motivation.

chairmansteve 1y ago

You have a point, but I think the distrust was initiated by the Thatcher/Reagan neo liberal turn. In the early 80s, I remember mass layoffs in the headlines every day. Often older, long term employees, who were more expensive. And company share prices would go up on those announcements. When I started my professional career in 1986, I was fully aware I was an expendable cog. It didn't make me less professional, but it did make me less loyal. I wasn't planning to work for the same company for 40 years. Sure enough, 5 years later, the company was acquired and virtually every employee fired. 2000 people. Many of whom had given 20 years to the company. The acquirer just wanted our customers.