The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising Workplace Privacy

Review by Dr Cathy Goodwin for The Naked Employee: How Technology Is Compromising Workplace Privacy
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A few months ago, I applied for an adjunct position — teaching one course, online from my home computer. To my amazement, the private “alternative” university demanded a background check. I said thanks but no thanks — and only now do I understand what happened.Lane, author of Naked Employee, explains that companies fear risks associated with loose cannon employees, although he doesn’t use those words. They risk embarrassment, lawsuits and more. And now, when it’s so easy to order background checks, why take those risks?If you resist, says Lane, prospective employers won’t think you’re principled; they’ll think you’re hiding something. After all, background checks revealed that fifty percent of resumes submitted to a major search firm included falsified information, ranging from imaginary degrees to exaggerated responsibilities.Once you’re hired, you can be subjected to physical exams and ongoing surveillance. Lane reviews the relative invasiveness of hair, blood and urine tests. Uniforms can be equipped with devices to prevent theft and track your whereabouts. Personal phone calls can be monitored long enough to discover they’re personal — a good two to three minutes. As I read this book, I grew more and more horrified. Lane stays focused on what’s happening today, only briefly suggesting ways to frame the problem on a broader scale. For instance, at the very end of the book, he notes that providing health insurance gives employers a solid basis for questioning employee lifestyles, on and off the job. In a much earlier book, JobShift, WIlliam Bridges called for individuals to become independent contractors rather than employees. He argued that separating health insurance from employment would protect our privacy as well as our physical health. A paradigm shift, requiring major changes in infrastructure, would be required to alter our relationship with our employers, careers and jobs. Thus the employment relationship has become decidedly lopsided. In return for invasion of privacy, the employer offers no long-term guarantees of employment. And in at least one non-traditional “university,” the background checks have become a substitute for hiring: the “dean” didn’t know anything about what was being taught — just checked off boxes. I wonder how prevalent this trend has become.