Comments on: How Much Is Your Privacy Worth?

By: Maggy Young

Maggy Young — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 04:52:56 +0000

Have to agree that a sensible monitored work schedule & goal setting is the only realistic way. The comments seem to miss one fundamental point – that the main motivator for those doing out-sourcing work is that they can create their own flexi work schedule away from big brother surveillance. If they want to work slow or quick or pm's or prefer evenings, have a weekday off & work Sunday, what does itt matter as long as they do it ?
The big flaw in monitoring schemes is that they are concerned essentially with time monitoring & do not measure quality. Anyone can play around with a screen for hours on end, messing around & not achieving very much. We've probably all done plenty of this. One hour's really good work can easily be worth hours of what is really idling time.
And of course all these systems can be gamed in various ways. And people soon learn this. The result is that those who come out the best are not the best workers, but those who play the system the best. When organizations run in-house team competitions, sad but the best team does not always win – the team that has learnt to cheat the best wins.
Advocates of oDesk – learn from this.

By: business networking

business networking — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 06:50:17 +0000

I've used Odesk before and I love it. The reason it is so successful is because of the transparency. Both the buyer and provider know what they are getting. The buyer is willing to pay on a per hour basis because there is not padding from the provider. The provider is willing to give a snapshot of the pc screen because they know they are working and will get paid for the job.

If you are actually doing the job you are supposed to do, then there shouldn't be any problems with letting the employer watch. But everyone that has worked in an office before knows that you are not working 100% of the time. Probably not even 50% of the time. How many times have you seen people checking personal emails, playing solitare, reading popular blogs, or just standing around the water cooler shooting the chit. Come on, be honest, we all know this happens. If you are a regular employee, then that's the price the employer pays to do business. But if you are freelancer, you are charging a premium and you should be delivering what you promised.

I'm for odesk and if my employer gave me the opportunity to work from home with an odesk type software, I'd take it. Of course I own the company so many I have a different perspective.

By: Monavie

Monavie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:26:12 +0000

I think the company should try to hire someone they trust to do the job, then just check the results their work gets. It is results,that matter in the end.

By: Chris Morrison

Chris Morrison — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 11:22:38 +0000

Not to mention, potentially a big snafu in the hands of the wrong management people. Studies show (don't you love that line?) that it's natural for most people to oscillate on and off tasks, even when they're fascinated with their work.

Sadly, some corporations already have this kind of software installed.. especially the crappier divisions like telemarketing and support.

By: sbspalding

sbspalding — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 01:02:11 +0000

No doubt at all that it can be fooled.

I agree with you, if you are paying someone to accomplish a goal — you
should just set up your goals/milestones to have built in checks against
procrastination.

By: Porch Lifts

Porch Lifts — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:53:55 +0000

Yeah, I don't think I would be willing to work in this manner either.

I think it is better to have measurable goals for your employees(especially freelancers) and evaluate whether your employee actually meets these goals then to rely on some invasive software.

Not to mention that you could probably throw together some program to simulate work and fool the oDesk/eLance software pretty easily.

By: ophelia_chong

ophelia_chong — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:13:33 +0000

I would never agree to this. What's stopping them from doing this at the office? Or in any form in or out the office. And there is no way anyone would be that desperate to have their movement monitored, because it also says a lot about the client if they use oDesk.

By: Shey

Shey — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:30:50 +0000

Ridiculous — I wouldn't do it. But then again, I don't freelance full-time.

Unfortunately, many may not have a choice if they are desperate enough.