eSlavery 2.0

Gee, I thought we’d abolished slavery centuries ago. Not according to Allen Stern who writes about a frightening new form of employee abuse which he calls “eSlavery”.

I read about this worrisome trend in a recent article in the Globe and Mail. The article was called, “Freelance slackers, beware: Big Brother is watching”.  Big Brother in this instance is an on-line company called oDesk.

oDesk hires freelance writers and computer programers and monitors their behavior to make certain that they are not stealing. Here are a few of the ways that people allow themselves to be monitored:

…by posting images of themselves every 10 minutes and having their keyboard and mouse activity monitored…

Of course I had to read further and what to my wondering eyes should appear but a story about the OTHER side of telecommuting or freelancing.

I’ve read lots of stories about the positive side of telecommuting.

For example, it’s good for the environment because telecommuters don’t need to drive to and from work. It’s great for people needing to work and care for small children or elderly parents. It’s also nice to be able to work in the comfort of one’s home, in one’s pajamas.

What I wasn’t aware of was this negative side of telecommuting especially for people who are freelancers and work for “oDesk”. oDesk is one of a growing number of ”freelance-for-hire” websites. It also appears to be the only one with this type of micromonitoring of its workers.

However, I’m certain that there are a few (probably more than a few) companies out there that monitor employees who work from home.

Do you telecommute? Does your employer trust you or are you an eSlave?

Have a great week!

Lesley

Occupational Free Speech

I came across the term occupational free speech while doing some research on whistleblowing. At the end of this post I’ll tell you about two organizations that are working on our behalf to safeguard our right to occupational free speech.

In my last post I wrote about workplace Codes of Conduct…which got me interested in learning more about whistleblowing. 

Canada Post has an interesting code that includes a reference to whistleblowing. Unfortunately I was not able to access their guidelines for whistleblowers as these are reserved for Canada Post employees.

So, what is a whistleblower and where did this term come from?

The original whistleblowers were English bobbies who blew their whistles to alert other bobbies and the public that a crime was in progress.

 Wikipedia provides the following definition of a whistleblower:

A whistleblower is an employee, former employee or member of an organization/government agency who reports misconduct to those who have the power and presumed willingness to take corrective action.

Most whistleblowers are internal…that is they are working within an organization. Of course this is not always the case. One of my favorite movies is “Erin Brockovich” starring Julie Roberts.

This movie is based on the true story of a woman named Erin Brockovich who blew the whistle on a large organization that was contaminating ground water in a small town in California.

Whistleblowing in organizations has become much more common in the past decade perhaps in part because of the success of women like Erin Brockovich and Sharon Watkins (Enron). 

It is because whistleblowing has become more common that organizations and governments are putting safeguards into place to protect employees who take it upon themselves to exercise their right to occupational free speech.

A number of companies now have “whistleblower hotlines” which are operated by 3rd parties in an effort to protect the whistleblower. In fact, under Canadian law publicly traded companies MUST now have these hotlines.

The USA has passed legislation to provide private sector workers with whistleblower rights. Two areas that are getting a lot of attention are the environment and consumer product safety.

What can you do if you suspect that the company you work for is dishonest, unethical, and/or doing something that puts people’s health or lives at risk?

Becoming a whistleblower is not something to be taken lightly. Despite the recent legislation intended to protect workers you must be prepared for the possibility that you might lose your job or worse. Of course there are some resources to help you.

GAP or the Government Accountability Project is a 30 year old non profit organization in the USA that promotes government and corporate accountability.

GAP does this by advancing occupatational free speech, defending whistleblowers and empowering citizen advocates. They provide a support network for whistleblowers as well as some concrete steps you can take if you come across some serious wrongdoing in your place of work.

In Canada the Federal Accountability Initiative for Reform (what a mouthful) is also working toward ensuring effective protection for whistleblowers and occupational free speech for workers.

Lesley

Bad Habits in the Workplace? Need a Code of Conduct?

This week I find myself exploring the idea of organizational “codes of conduct”.

The first one I came across was designed to “control” employee behavior. Now the word “control” was not mentioned BUT the implication was there.

The example given was of a checklist of behaviors that employees were to agree to and be held accountable for. Of course there is nothing wrong with this if EVERYONE in the organization is also held to the same standards of behavior.

So I decided to do a bit of research and found quite a lot of variation in workplace codes of conduct.

Take Canada Post for example. Canada Post has a twenty-five page document which describes “standards for fair and ethical conduct” at Canada Post. This document starts with Canada Post’s values and is upfront on “what you can expect from Canada Post” and “what Canada Post can expect from you”.

On the other end of the spectrum is Lulu Lemon Athletica. Lulu has a one page code of conduct which appears to set standards more for the employer than for employees.

Getting back to the first code of conduct that I came across. This one was meant to set standards of behavior for employees ONLY. Organizations that are interested in creating one of these are encouraged to “seek input from all employees” and not to impose something from “the top”.

These are sound recommendations but very difficult to follow ESPECIALLY in LARGE organizations with thousands of employees. How do you seek input from everyone?

Other suggestions for making this idea work are:

• align behaviors with the organization’s mission and values
• be specific in how you word the behaviors
• communicate the reasons for having the code of conduct in the first place
• update the code of conduct on a regualar basis
• have new employees agree to and sign the document

What to you think? Does having a code of conduct work? Is it a good idea? Can an organization have a code for employees to follow and not have a code for the organization (owners, board members, senior leaders, etc.)?

We all have bad habits and may not be aware of them. There are also people working in our organizations that are dishonest or unethical.

Is a code of conduct the best way to stamp out these bad/criminal behaviors?

I don’t have the answers.

What I do believe is that it is much easier to have small working groups discuss and agree on standards of behavior. The best example I’ve seen so far is very simple.

At a team or staff meeting or when a group comes together for the first time ask them to think about the BEST group or team that they ever worked with. Then ask them to describe what it was about that experience that made it so memorable.

Capture these experiences on a white board or flip chart paper.

Ask them if that is how they would like to work together and if they agree then this becomes their “code of conduct”…although you don’t need to express it in those terms.

Have a happy and productive week!    Lesley