In June, TD Bank told staff that it would begin running software called WorkiQ on their work computers, tracking time spent in browsers, internal chat and meeting apps. The rollout has revived public debate about workplace surveillance. But the issue extends well beyond one bank.
Many jobs have become more digital, hybrid and dispersed. Managers may feel less able to see work directly, and may turn to software that promises a clearer picture of what employees do all day: time spent in applications, browser use, meeting activity and other digital traces of work.
For employers, the appeal is easy to understand. They want to know where work is getting stuck and how time is being spent. But the issue is not only whether surveillance improves performance. It is also what kind of workplace it creates, and whether employees can do good work while feeling trusted and respected.
The idea that being watched changes behaviour is not new, either. English philosopher Jeremy Bentham's 18th-century idea of the panopticon was a prison in which people could be watched without knowing when they were being observed. The point was not only that people might be watched. It was that the possibility of being watched could change how they behaved.
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