LEADERSHIP – THE HORROR MOVIE
I am a great fan of horror movies and what I am reading, and hearing right now is just like one of them. Of course, the scariest horror movies are the ones whose storylines could actually happen in real life. This one is playing out right now.
It echoes the horrifying scene in the movie “The Strangers – Home Invasion” where the victim asks, “Why are you doing this to us? to which the villains simply respond, “Because you were home.”
Replace “victim” with employee working remotely and “villain’ with employer and the scene is set.
THE BACKSTORY
Back in December 2020, I wrote an article in which I expressed my concern over the increase in the global demand for employee surveillance software to track employee activity.
I referenced June 2020 data from research company TOP10VPN which was scary enough back then.
Global demand for employee monitoring software increased by:
· 80% in March 2020 compared with the 2019 monthly average prior to the pandemic
· 65% in April 2020
· 71% in May 2020 versus pre-pandemic levels
TOP10VPN have continued to update their research. There was a 71% demand increase in December 2021. This was the biggest increase in demand compared to 2019 since March 2020. The demand is trending upwards. The demand for employee surveillance software was stronger in 2021 on average than in 2020.
Now it is getting scarier.
THE PLOT
As this graph shows, the average monthly demand for employee surveillance software actually intensified over the second year of the pandemic, rather than fading away.
Source: https://www.top10vpn.com/research/covid-employee-surveillance/
When I wrote the December 2020 article I said:
“In 2020, I find it extremely depressing those full-grown adults must be subject to routine surveillance of their activities in order for them to keep their job due to lack of adept leadership in an organisation.”
SOLUTION: Invest now in the right leaders and leadership development”
I called out the need for a fundamental shift in how we develop real leaders in our organisations. Leaders that provide clear and agreed expectations, provide employees with autonomy, and then get out of the way.
Clearly, that fell on deaf ears. In the words of Ridley Scott, “In space no one can hear you scream.”
My thinking at the time – call me naïve – was that this increase in demand for surveillance software was a knee-jerk reaction to employees suddenly being out-of-sight and bosses not equipped to deal with the unprecedented change. What I didn’t envisage was a continual increase in employee surveillance over the period post pandemic onset and a continuing increase whilst some employees return to the office.
“What was introduced in the crisis of the pandemic as a short-term remedy for lockdowns and working from home, has quietly become the “new normal” for many Australian workplaces” writes James Purtill for ABC Science.
Moath Galeb is Sales Manager at Efficient Lab, a company that makes and sells employee monitoring software called Controlio. The number of Controlio clients has increased two to three times with the pandemic and demand has remained strong in recent months. Galeb says “Even when some companies have returned back to office work, they still rely on employee monitoring software.”
The “new normal” is not limited to Australia. As TOP10VPN reports: “The pandemic has led to a huge rise in the range and sophistication of surveillance technologies being adopted around the world and, as remote work looks set to continue for the foreseeable future, invasive employee surveillance may also be here to stay.”
THE CONFRONTATION
What is now scary is that the employee versus boss covert confrontation is now in full swing. As employers introduce new methods of surveillance, employees respond with innovative ways of thwarting the “bossware”.
When employers started to monitor keyboard strokes, the random keyboard input device was invented. When employers started to monitor what was happening on an employee screen, a tool was invented that cycled through a prepared list of webpages at regular intervals.
When an employer found a way to block the use of mouse jigglers, an employer tied his mouse to his desk fan which moved the mouse back and forth. Block that one boss!
Below are a list of the convert devices, applications ,and employee practices being used to simulate activity so the boss thinks you are always on!
Enter the covert devices, apps, and practices
Joining the cast are:
Place your mouse on top of the device and simulate mouse movements.
Another name for the jiggler
Build your own Lego mouse mover
Paper clip in the keyboard insert key
Jam a paper clip into the insert key keeps the keyboard active
Glass keeps laser mouse active
Movement of second hand activates the mouse
Connect your mouse to the toy train and let it run
Tie your mouse to the fan to make it move
Tie your mouse to the fan to make it move
Place your mouse over your phone while it’s playing this video – works a treat
Java program wiggles the mouse at user defined intervals
Software that records and repeats mouse movements
Mouse and keyboard recording macro
A utility from Microsoft to simulate user activity
For Window users to record and repeat actions
Program a series of repetitive clicks and button strikes
Record and save mouse movements for playback
And lots more hiding in the shadows.
Before the pandemic, mouse jigglers were niche devices used by the police and security agencies to keep seized computers from logging out and requiring a password to access. Plugged into a laptop USB port, the jiggler randomly moves the cursor, faking activity when there is no-one there.
According to ABC Science, sales boomed when the pandemic hit. James Franklin, a Melbourne based software engineer, has mailed 5,000 jigglers to customers all over the Australia over the past 2 years. Often, he has had to upgrade the device to evade an employer’s latest methods to detect and block them. He said, “Unbelievable demand is the best way to describe it. When Zoom became a thing (along with) activity status and employee tracking, it became almost an expectation for people to have them.”
THE SCARIEST PART
Yes, this is where we close our eyes and scream.
In the ABC Science article, Mr Galeb of Efficient Lab is quoted as saying:
“The most popular features for employers - track employee “active time” to generate a “productivity score.
Depending on the data, or the insights you receive, you get to build this picture of who is doing more and doing less.”
Since when has keystrokes or hours spent at a desk equalled productivity? Never.
The ABC article goes on to detail a 2020 submission to a New South Wales (NSW) senate committee investigating the impact of technological change on the future of work.
Submission 0006 from the United Workers Union contains a case study of a call centre worker.
“Jonathon was informed by his manager that two weeks prior when WFH, he had a period of 45 minutes unaccounted for on a particular shift.
Unable to remember exactly what he was doing that particular day; the matter was escalated to senior management who demanded to know exactly where he physically was during this time. This 45-minute break in surveillance caused considerable grief and anxiety for the company. A perceived productivity loss of $27 (the worker’s hourly rate) resulted in several meetings involving members of upper management, formal letters of correspondence, and a written warning delivered to the worker.
Such actions would have cost the company considerably more than $27 in time and labour, demonstrating WFH surveillance is not just about productivity—it’s about power and control.”
THE FINALE
In the final scene of our horror movie, the employee realises the only way to escape this toxic captivity, is to break free. That is, leave the organisation for a better one. The sequel to this movie is “The Great Realisation” in which the employee defeats the captor realising they deserve better.
When employers use surveillance software to monitor employee activity in the guise of checking on productivity it is just screaming at employees -
“I DO NOT TRUST YOU”
It also says that we have bosses who are not capable of measuring performance by outputs rather than inputs – outcomes rather than hours.
We have bosses who use command and control and micromanagement. They fear loss of control. They are power driven. They want things done their way and they want to be seen as the expert. They are insecure, lack confidence, and have trust issues. They do not provide any support or resources to employees.
Whilst some bosses just love this way of working, for many they micromanage because they are unaware of any other style of managing. They were probably micromanaged and due to a lack of development, support, and coaching, they have adopted the style of the boss that went before them. Just as in the 12 Halloween movies, the plot keeps repeating itself.
In February 2021, I introduced my followers to my Hybrid Leadership Model and the capacities and competencies needed by leaders
In February 2022, I explored the leadership point on my “Future of Work Redesigned Compass.” I talked about the leadership capacities and the competencies needed to lead high performing hybrid teams.
I am not going to describe each of those in this newsletter but rather invite you to look at the February 2022 issues.
If we don’t identify, develop, coach, and support the leaders we want within our organisation, we will just keep living the same horror movie in which Freddie Kruger never dies.
Never has the inability of our so-called leaders to lead been so exposed.
Be afraid, be very afraid.