"Big Brother" in the workplace. Is this commonplace these days?

[Suzanne in ABQ]

My 20yodd is working at Subway part-time while on summer break from university.  The man who owns the store is never there, but he monitors the security cameras to watch every move his employees make throughout the day. The cameras are mounted on the ceiling, all over the store, including the back room.  If he sees something amiss, he'll call the employees directly and correct them over the phone. 

 

I can't imagine having someone watching me from above every minute of the day, following me around from room to room, making sure I'm doing what they want me to do.  It seems creepy to me.  Then again, I haven't worked in retail or food service for about 30 years!  

 

Is this common nowadays, to have someone watching you all the time?

 

 

[redsquirrel]

I know someone who worked as a nanny and the entire house was wired.  The whole situation was super creepy, but the cameras really put the edge on the situation. 

 

 

[zoobie]

His boss sounds a bit nutty. Who has time to stare at a monitor all day?

 

One random thing re: Subway...you may want to get your DS to check if the workers' compensation insurance is legit. We've had a few clients who have gotten royally screwed by Subway franchises with fake or no insurance. Anyway, it's not something I would've thought about as a 20 year old, but after seeing a young person who's permanently disabled and now totally dependent on parents...it's something we will get our kids to check. It's certainly not limited to Subway, but we've had an unusual number of bad experiences with that chain and the most recent is stuck in my mind.

 

If your gut is saying creepy, then listen to it.

[Arcadia]

My neighbor used to run a Quiznos franchise. The cameras are more for safety reasons than monitoring how well the staff are working. He doesn't mind if his staff slack at times. It lowers his insurance for that place though since it counts as a security system.

 

It is getting common in childcare and preschool too in case of any abuse lawsuits. There is an abuse case at a special needs school that is currently still being investigated. News show video footage of kids being manhandled.

[Miss Peregrine]

Dd20 works in a coffee shop and it is also video monitored.

[happi duck]

My sib worked in a convenience store *at least* 30 years ago and the owner would watch through the security tapes.

 

Given today's tech I can imagine some people being paranoid enough to watch live. Creepy. Why not show up in person and have a pleasant interaction instead?

 

Ot:I was hoping that this might be a thread about Big Brother the reality show.

*heavy sigh*

;)

[Guest]

It's very common in retail and franchises. Once bitten, twice shy.

[TechWife]

It's very common. Employees steal from their employers with regular frequency. The next time you're in a department store or a big box store, look at the ceiling over the cash registers. Chances are good you will see either a camera mounted or you will see a "mirrored" tile, behind which there is a camera. Here are some interesting statistics from 2015 (2016 statistics are behind a paywall): 

 

Inventory shrinkage: $44 billion

34.5% of that comes from employee/internal theft

38% of that comes from shoplifting (non employee, I assume)

The remainder is a combination of paperwork errors and possibly vendor fraud

 

 

 

 

 

[Katy]

When I was in college I worked for some privately owned nursing homes like that.  There was an extra level of creepiness because the guy watching us from home DIDN'T EVEN WORK THERE.  There were layers and layers of licensed administrators and nurse management, and he'd call to micromanage something he didn't even manage or have any education in.  Then when there were a couple of abuse incidents, the videos were "accidentally" erased.  Uh-huh.  I think he just wanted to creep on the young nursing students.  Some of which were underage.

[Shred Betty]

I was creeped out a little when the owners of the restaurant I worked for installed a system like this. I know they would watch from upstairs to be sure patrons were being helped, and everyone kept humming life as usual when they stepped away to do the books.

 

To the honest and non slacking employee ? You'll stay honest and shrug. To the dishonest? It'll deter them. It sounds like this guy is over using them, but maybe if they are new he's hoping it will be like a self policing deterrent of bad practices if he comes in strict with guns blazing, and can't wait till he can stop watching them and criticizing ppl all day.

 

Or he's really invading their privacy and being an overcontrolling micromanager.

[vonfirmath]

It's very common. Employees steal from their employers with regular frequency. The next time you're in a department store or a big box store, look at the ceiling over the cash registers. Chances are good you will see either a camera mounted or you will see a "mirrored" tile, behind which there is a camera. Here are some interesting statistics from 2015 (2016 statistics are behind a paywall): 

 

Inventory shrinkage: $44 billion

34.5% of that comes from employee/internal theft

38% of that comes from shoplifting (non employee, I assume)

The remainder is a combination of paperwork errors and possibly vendor fraud

 

Even Lego had thieves!

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2014/07/30/woman-arrested-for-stealing-thousands-of-dollars-worth-of-legos-from-glendale-store/

 

An article from Jan 2015 saying UT Retail Workers are #1 in employee theft: http://fortune.com/2015/01/26/us-retail-worker-theft/

[Arctic Bunny]

I worked at a store last year where the manager would watch the whole day's security footage. And ask who that was who came in, or what you and so and so were talking about. So very weird!

[Anacharsis]

Sometimes it is a sign of a bad workplace culture. Employees who are mistreated but who are too poor to quit like to find subtle ways to sabotage their workplaces, even though from a rational perspective that's not helping anybody. I think it's part of an attitude that develops in certain unhealthy environments, where the world becomes something with only two modes, "taking advantage" or "being taken advantage of", and the real world of hard work leading to rewards gets obscured.

 

Once a culture like that is established, rehabilitating it can be complicated -- so some employers just go for double-or-nothing and tighten up the security. Employees then feel more disrespected and come up with new and innovative ways to express their unhappiness in a way that won't get them caught.  :)

[Tess in the Burbs]

In college I worked at a kiosk in the mall, and the manager would come and sit at the food court nearby to spy on us.  If we talked too long to a customer he would write us up.  Um, you can't sell stuff without talking?!?!?!  So yes, I have had jobs long ago that kept an eye on me way too much.  Imagine now with tech it's worse. 

 

[Tap]

I know lots of places have monitored security cameras.  It has been that way since the advent of them.  I think it is getting more and more likely to have the monitored off site, since digital cameras now produce much clearer pictures that some of the grainy pictures on  wired cameras saved to VCR tapes. 

 

 

The manager doesn't have to watch a full days broadcast to catch a few things to comment on.  Then the employees 'think' he is watching more than he really is. 

[GoodGrief]

I did grand jury service this past fall, and became very aware via the cases presented that cameras are everywhere now!! I had no clue.

[Carrie12345]

There were cameras all over the store when I was working in 1996.

(And in one of the daycare centers where I worked in 2001-ish, which was online for the parents.)

[kroe1]

Our hospital is full of cameras and speakers in all places. It seems to be that people want medical personnel, military, police, etc. recorded every second. Why not Subway employees. Getting heavily monitored on the job is now commonplace and big business.

[Valley Girl]

Yes, it's common and has been for a long time. Employees (and customers) are watched on video. Email and internet usage is monitored. I'd never assume I wasn't being monitored.

 

I remember helping a customer once only to receive a call from loss prevention mid-transaction. They were watching and were concerned that the customer was attempting to return a stolen item. They instructed me on how to handle the situation.

 

I'd be concerned if I were in a medical profession providing patient care simply because care can get very personal and patients' privacy should be respected.

 

I agree it's creepy.

[MEmama]

I worked in HR and was constantly spied on. Everything was monitored, but in a very sneaky way. It was terribly unprofessional and unsettling. This was 15 years ago, and was clearly already ingrained in the company policy.

[Bluegoat]

I see them in a lot of shops.  I don't think I could really work that way, I even hate having an employer hanging over me.  It really inhibits my performance.

 

I tend to agree with the poster who sees it as related to poor workplace culture. 

[Garga]

I went on a business trip to a very nice office building with swanky software companies inside. Everyone was dressed in professional suits. Yet, there were cameras there pointed at the employees. I thought it was very strange. These people were all well-educated, so it's not like they were a bunch of slackers who were trying to skate through life.

 

That was 15 years ago.

 

I wasn't sure what to make of it. Then I wondered if my office had cameras pointed at us, only maybe they were hidden.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't have a problem with it so long as I'm told about it.

 

 

[poppy]

I had a friend who owned a subway franchise. Said customers were easy , employees were hard. Due to theft. Tell your daughter they are looking for thieves.

Honest employees who relax sometimes are the good ones.

[SarahB82]

I would assume he owns more than one store and keeps an eye on them all remotely.

[TABmom]

A lifetime ago, I worked in a fast food place. The owner would sit in his car in the parking lot across the street and watch what was going on. He was an awesome boss though- it was a great place to work.

[JFSinIL]

My worst job ever was assistant to a woman at an ad agency. My desk was positioned directly outside her open office door, I sat sideways at my desk so she could see what I was doing at all times. Found another job as fast as possible.

[lllll]

nm

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey

[Guest]

My son was very glad for those cameras. His first week working at the convnience mart brought out a lot of criminals. The camera replay showed him some of the common ploys and enabled the owner to recover some of his money. I guess he could have watched a training video, but its really nice to have camera to keep everyone honest.

[zoobie]

I wish they had had cameras when my dd worked at a fast food place.  When she came back from break one day, she saw a couple of other employees fooling around with the box under her register where she had to 'stuff' the big bills into.  Apparently, they had stolen some of the money and dd got blamed for it.  If there had been cameras pointed at the registers, the manager would have seen that dd wasn't the thief.  As it was, since it was dd's register, dd ended up having the money docked from her pay.   :glare:   

 

That's not legal. She could have fought that.

[lllll]

nm 

 

Edited November 30, 2016 by cathey

[zoobie]

We didn't know that.  But I guess if it had involved hiring a lawyer it might not have been worth it.  Dd was so upset about the whole thing that we just wanted to get her out of there.  We were glad when the summer ended and she left that job. 

 

Usually pushing back in person with a copy of state labor laws is sufficient. They know they're stealing and just think they can bully kids. Employees can file complaints with the DOL without an attorney. I think most states and the US DOL are all online and fairly employee-friendly. 

[mom2scouts]

I don't ever remember being monitored by video while working, but my son told me a funny video monitoring story. When ds was in an college engineering program, the professor monitored the lab at night by camera. DS said that one night the phone rang and the professor was calling to tell a student that his project was on fire and he should put it out!