Amazon to start tracking hand movements of employees. If workers slack off, wristband will know.

originally posted by: anticitizen
one more reason not to buy from this stupid company.

I don't know. They do have a fine selection of automatic watch winders.

originally posted by: rhynouk
I work in a warehouse environment. Doing similar to what they do in Amazon. Even our bosses understand that when it's crazy busy, you can't push workers too much or they just slow down out of protest. It's happened a few times.
I used to get stressed and run around like a loon. But the faster you go the more mistakes you make.

It'll be interesting if this technology actually gets used.

I haven't made up my mind if I agree with this technology yet or not, but the upside is that people can work faster with fewer mistakes.

Why get stressed when your hands are being guided? It removes unconscious error from the equation.

Can't say I'm a fan of amazon - but the thread title kinda bothers me.

Seriously, who really expects their employer to tolerate "slacking" off? You're being paid to work.

Is it really about catching people slacking off? If it is, then so what? If I take on a job there's an agreement between myself and my employer, they pay me - I do my job.

They ain't paying me to sit around doing what I like, are they? Anyone going into a job thinking that they should be allowed to slack off when it suits them has a bad attitude towards their role.

I can't slack off in my job, not because I have some wristband...but simply because my inaction will be noticed when the things I'm expected to do aren't actually being done. I only have to fail to respond to an email within an hour or two and I get a phone call asking why.

I ain't gonna lie - I do the occasional bit of skiving here and there if I think it'll go un-noticed, but if I get caught out I'm bang to rights and ain't gonna waste too much time trying to justify it...they're paying me by the hour.

So I can kinda see both sides - although I'm not entirely sure that this device is actually intended to prevent slacking.

Funnily enough it happened yesterday...I caught up with some paperwork and did a few things, cleared my feet so to speak, was about 11 AM.

So I thought...right, I'll nip out and get a coffee and a nibble - I have that kinda freedom as I'm the manager in my department. So I left work and walked around the corner to the shop and got me a coffee and some donuts. I was heading back and my phone went and it was my boss.

He was going into something then asked what the noise was in the background...er, that's traffic was my response. He asked where I was, I lied and said I had to nip out to the bank, he asked had I told anyone I was leaving...I know hee'll check if I said yes so I told him no. And so I got the spiel about how it was against company policy to leave the building without notifying the duty manager as if there was a fire and I was clocked in that people woul dbe looking for me even though I wasn't there and blah, blah.

I just apologised and said I wouldn't do it again. He was right, I was wrong...and I'm a liar.

a reply to: LungFuMoShi

That sounds like a strict place. Where I work, we don't care where employees are or what they're doing. Clock in and out for the day, get your work done, meet deadlines, and attend virtual meetings. If you do that you're free to drive over to starbucks, or take the office dog for a walk, or work from home in your underwear.

a reply to: Aazadan

Personally I don't think it's unreasonable at all.

If there's a fire alarm all members of staff must vacate the premises and head straight to a pre-designated area. One member of staff, usually the duty manager must quickly print out a list of all employees and guests in the hotel and the sign-in book must be collected which accounts for any external contractors currently in the building.

An mmediate head-count is then taken to ensure all are present, if anyone is missing then it's expected in a real situation that fire marshalls will enter the building to try and find those unaccounted for.

I'm actually the maintenance manager so technically should know better. yeah it does seem trivial and it's unlikely that such a thing will ever actually happen but the bottom line is the inability to account for any individuals might result in others' risking their lives on their behalf.

I was only gone for a few minutes but had to accept that what I did was irresponsible, particularly for someone in my position. Any member of staff leaving the building during working hours is really supposed to notify the duty manager. In fairness to my boss it's actually classed as gross misconduct and can potentially be a sackable offence, it almost always results in some kind of disciplinary action so my boss was actually quite lenient in this regard.

a reply to: Cabin

What would stop a worker from putting their wrist band onto a moving metronome or something ... to 'fake' work in that way?

originally posted by: Fowlerstoad
a reply to: Cabin

What would stop a worker from putting their wrist band onto a moving metronome or something ... to 'fake' work in that way?

The large number of wrong hits most likely. Anyways, I caught up on the thread... I have to say that I'm in favor of this technology. It will improve order accuracy, makes it easier for workers, and saves the company money. It's a win for everyone involved.