The Financial Times has reported examples of workplace surveillance dressed up as safety measures. Amazon has introduced AWS Panorama which uses footage from security cameras to detect employees who are not distancing. But as the article says, it’s not hard to imagine a future where workers are blamed for contracting Covid with implications for sick pay. Walmart has filed a patent for a system of sound sensors placed near cashiers which “could determine a performance metric for the employee based on the audio data”.

Research has shown that close and constant monitoring is injurious to human health. Monitoring at work is seen as increasingly important with remote work which puts the time factor back into the hands of the employees.

Workplace surveillance may hurt us more than it helps