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1,000 Eyes Are on You

An escape from the rat-race to becoming a prisoner in your own home

Photo by Apostolos Vamvouras on Unsplash

As I was reading my newsfeed the other day, I came across an article about the work-from-home movement.

Once the world was no longer held captive by the pandemic, many corporations requested and even mandated their associates to return to the office.

It even became political, with states getting involved, going as far as delaying and aborting unemployment benefits, as well as refusing to pass along the additional $300 federal weekly benefit to those collecting unemployment.

Those tactics were to coerce individuals to return to the workforce.

Employees resisted, negotiated for hybrid work arrangements, petitioned for full-time permanent agreements, and some just resigned.

Individuals who stayed on were at least able to work part-time from home. Some associates were able to convince their employers to allow them to work from home full-time, permanently. In either case, they must have felt a sense of liberation, but it must have been short-lived.

These actions brought about a bit of relief, at least for me. But others are now having to deal with another issue.

The article I read grabbed my attention regarding what employers are doing to their associates who work off-site.

They are spying on their employees while they work. And to justify their actions, employers claim to monitor productivity. The methods they’re using to spy on their workers seem to be over-the-top.

Some employers are using the typical webcam. However, they use monitoring systems called Bossware.

Bossware includes electronic monitoring software, keystroke logging, screenshots of workers’ computers, and microphones to capture employees’ conversations.

Employees who work from home have company-owned computer equipment and phones to accomplish company assignments. Employees are without privacy protection or legal recourse.

If an associate is permitted to use their personal computer equipment and phone, the company’s IT department can attach devices, with the employees’ knowledge, which allow for computing support. Once again, a breach of privacy.

Photo by Procreator UX Design Studio on Unsplash

There’s no win for the associate, which can induce a myriad of negatively-charged effects.

Associates can hoard a breach of trust toward their employer and experience diminished loyalty.

Deep-seated negative personal feelings can also result.

A sense of being trapped, violated, disrespected, invisible, betrayed, and unimportance can manifest. Privacy-invasion, loss of dignity, and respect are at the top of the list.

These feelings can also backfire on the employer and yield the opposite result of diminished productivity.

At this point, the employee and the employer, perhaps, have parted ways.

So, how does one have the luxury and true freedom of working from home without corporate spies?

Try genuine freelancing. A person can work from home without restrictions corporations impose upon remote workers and without corporate spies.

With genuine freelancing, a person will use their personal electronic equipment, research, and pitch to potential clients, who, in a sense, replace corporate bosses.

An individual is at liberty to work not only from home but remotely from anywhere in the world.

Upon perusing the internet, I’ve discovered via several profiles on various platforms that people who seek work-from-home jobs are still confused regarding the difference between working remotely and freelancing.

It doesn’t help and further confuses the issue when job descriptions seek freelancers.

They want candidates to apply, their willingness to join a team, work specific hours, reside in or near a designated corporate location, with delegated tasks, and likely inclusive of the spy element.

That is NOT the description of a freelancer and is enough to keep anyone confused.

With those requirements, the freelancer is back at square one. They will most likely complete a W-4 instead of a 1099, which, again, isn’t a freelancer by any means.

Individuals enticed by the option of working from home risk becoming subjects of corporate spies if they work remotely for a company and don’t work for themselves.

They might want to ponder whether to take the risk of working from home or become a genuine freelancer and break ties with corporate spies.