It also can enable a computer's webcam to take a picture of the employee every 10 minutes. It downloads videos of employees' screens while they work. Her employer has started using software called Time Doctor. She also spoke to NPR anonymously out of fear her employer would retaliate against her for speaking out. Just ask a woman who works in marketing at a small company in Minnesota. Privacy advocates and some workers said they worry that the intensified tracking brought upon by the coronavirus will normalize workplace surveillance and that this type of digital supervision will persist when workers return to offices. In turn, companies are ramping up the use of software to monitor what their employees do all day.

The coronavirus pandemic has forced about a third of U.S. Such rationales are increasingly ringing throughout workplaces nationwide. She spoke on the condition of anonymity, fearing she could lose her job.Ĭompany emails that she provided to NPR show her employer believed the tracking software would improve the team's productivity and efficiency while everyone was working from home. There was no reason to start location-tracking us,' the woman told NPR. They also had to download an app called TSheets to their phones to keep tabs on their whereabouts during work hours. Some workers say they feel like their privacy is being compromised.Īfter two weeks of working from her Brooklyn apartment, a 25-year-old e-commerce worker received a staffwide email from her company: Employees were to install software called Hubstaff immediately on their personal computers so it could track their mouse movements and keyboard strokes, and record the webpages they visited.

With more people working remotely, companies are turning to technology that tracks what employees are doing all day on their computers.

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