Teleperformance Takes Surveillance Too Far

The main story

French-based call center Teleperformance is drawing heat as workers in their Colombian office fight back against strict camera monitoring.

Early last week, a group of employees at the Colombian branch of Teleperformance sent in a list of demands to their employer addressing concerns of aggressive surveillance and behavior towards its remote employees.

These demands were sent in with the help of Utraclaro y TIC, a local union that has already unionized workers at Teleperformance’s competitor Atento.

The 39,000 employees in the Colombian office signed a new employment contract in March, allowing Teleperformance to monitor employees through AI-powered cameras capturing audio and video.

As the pandemic has pushed organizations to remote environments, monitoring software has been on the rise to ensure productivity remains intact.

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Teachable Moment

If the thought of your employees working from home causes concerns about productivity and security, it’s time to re-examine whom you have on your team.

Constant and aggressive monitoring isn’t going to change existing behavior, let alone encourage change.

Part of having engaged and productive team members comes from the support and flexibility management provides.

This is a clear example of what happens when you push too far.

Surprise - they push back.