With a home office also comes the business owner’s need to control what employees do in the home.
Third-party webcam installed
NBC News wrote that a Columbia-based call center pressured its employees to accept home monitoring. This is so that the company can monitor the work being carried out according to the instructions.
The contract, to which NBC News was granted access, is said to have given the Teleperformance call center the opportunity to install cameras in employees’ homes. The company has more than 380,000 employees, of whom 39,000 are in Colombia. Teleperformance’s customers include companies such as Amazon, Apple, and Uber.
The contract states that the camera must point to the workplace in the employee’s home, and that the employee must accept real-time camera and film recording. Furthermore, the contract states that the image material is analyzed to determine things like cell phones, papers and other items covered by Teleperformance’s safety instructions.
He signed the contract for fear of losing his job
One employee told NBC News that she signed the contract out of fear of losing her job. The line manager reportedly said she would be removed from Apple’s wallet if she refused to sign the document.
Teleperformance spokesperson Mark Pfeiffer told NBC News that the cameras are used to check compliance with the company’s “clean office policy”, and that employees follow strict company rules when it comes to handling sensitive data.
Apple bans all forms of video surveillance
An Apple spokesperson, Nick Leahy, told NBC News that Apple is banning all forms of video surveillance for its suppliers. Leahy further confirmed that Apple has received confirmation from Teleperformance that it is not using video surveillance to monitor any of its employees who work with Apple.
In closing, Leahy stated that Apple found no violation of Apple’s strict standards when Apple investigated Teleperformance.
Uber asked to monitor employees
Unlike Apple, Uber has stated that it has specifically requested that the company’s employees be monitored. An Uber spokesperson, Lois Van Der Laan, explained to NBC News that their Teleperformance advisors handle sensitive information such as credit card details and itineraries.
As a result, Uber has asked Teleperformance to monitor employees who handle this data. This is to prevent employees, for example, from taking pictures of credit card details or other sensitive information.
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