All articles tagged with #employee monitoring
Kotaku reports leaked audio in which Mark Zuckerberg says Meta's AI is trained by watching ‘really smart people’ at the company as about 8,000 employees are laid off (10% of the workforce) and thousands more reassigned to AI initiatives, amid criticism over employee device tracking and Meta’s ongoing AI pivot.
KPMG has rolled out an AI-usage dashboard for its US advisory staff to spur more frequent and sophisticated AI use, claiming 90% of employees use AI weekly and tying usage to career progression. However, insiders say the tool is easy to game—promoters can simply trigger prompts or automate tasks—raising concerns about the dashboard’s accuracy while the firm pushes incentives like AI Spark Innovation Awards and broader AI training to drive adoption.
Meta is deploying an internal tool called MCI to US-based employees that records mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and occasional screenshots during work to train its AI agents. Meta says the data aren’t used for performance assessments and safeguards exist, but there’s reportedly no opt-out option on work laptops, triggering internal backlash.
Meta is rolling out an internal tool on US-based employee laptops that records keystrokes, mouse movements, and screen content in a limited set of work apps (Gmail, GChat, Metamate, VSCode) to train its AI models; employees cannot opt out, triggering backlash even as Meta cites safeguards and limits data to work devices.
Meta will begin tracking US employees’ mouse movements, clicks, keystrokes, and periodic screenshots across certain work apps to generate high-quality training data for future AI agents; the company says the data will help models perform everyday computer tasks and will not be used to evaluate employees, though European regulations could complicate similar monitoring there.
Microsoft is rolling out a feature that allows employers to access employees' device location data via its enterprise tools, sparking privacy concerns as who can view and control the data depends on admin settings and company policy.
Google has introduced an Android update that allows employers to archive and access employees' RCS and SMS texts on work-managed devices, effectively ending the privacy of personal messages on these devices despite previous end-to-end encryption, raising concerns about employee privacy and monitoring.
Microsoft Teams is planning to introduce a feature that will notify managers when employees are not in the office, raising concerns about workplace privacy and monitoring in remote work environments.
Microsoft Teams will now automatically update and share employees' work location based on Wi-Fi connection, raising privacy concerns and potentially impacting employee privacy and workplace dynamics, with the feature rolling out globally in December.
A mouse jiggler is a device that simulates mouse movement to prevent computers from sleeping or to appear active, often used by remote workers. There are hardware and software types, but companies can detect their use through advanced monitoring tools, as demonstrated by a case at Wells Fargo. While useful for maintaining activity status, mouse jigglers do not replace actual work and can be detected by employers.
xAI, Elon Musk's AI startup, required employees training its Grok chatbot to install surveillance software on personal laptops, raising privacy concerns. The company later adjusted its policy to allow delays for those awaiting company devices, amid employee protests and privacy worries. The software, Hubstaff, tracks activity during work hours to monitor performance, sparking criticism about surveillance disguised as productivity.
Amazon is enforcing a new rule requiring corporate employees to spend a minimum of two hours per office visit to combat "coffee badging," where employees badge in briefly to meet return-to-office mandates. This move has sparked frustration among employees, who question the policy's transparency and legality. Amazon's spokesperson stated that the policy aims to enhance collaboration and business outcomes.
Major companies like Walmart, Delta, T-Mobile, Chevron, and Starbucks are reportedly using AI software from a startup called "Aware" to monitor employee conversations on messaging apps like Slack and Microsoft Teams for keywords indicating dissatisfaction and safety risks. This has raised privacy concerns among remote workers, with some feeling it's sneaky and flawed, while others are less bothered. The use of AI for employee monitoring reflects the shift to remote work and the growing reliance on digital communication platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams.
Several major companies are using AI technology from Aware to monitor employee communications on platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams, analyzing sentiment and identifying behaviors such as bullying, harassment, and noncompliance. While the company claims to anonymize data and protect privacy, concerns have been raised about the potential for chilling effects on workplace communication and the accuracy of AI-generated inferences. Critics argue that the use of AI for employee surveillance raises worker rights and privacy issues, and that it may be difficult for employees to defend themselves if disciplined based on AI-flagged interactions.
BNP Paribas has informed its London-based staff that it will track their entry-gate swipes against logins to the bank's computer network to ensure compliance with office attendance targets. The move aims to accurately track space needs and ensure fairness across teams. The bank's USA & Canada divisions have also updated their policy to monitor staff presence in the office. While some employees prefer remote work for increased productivity and job satisfaction, bosses are concerned about the erosion of corporate culture and the missed opportunities for junior employees to learn from experienced colleagues. The bank's memo stated that staff would not be able to opt out of the tracking, and days affected by adverse weather or transport disruptions would still count as "in office" working days.