Security Cameras in the Workplace
My friend told me some interesting things the other day.
We were talking about spy cameras and how we had always wanted to use them when we were in college to do stuff with them - you know the usual - spy on the girl's dorm, record our other roommate's activities.
Juvenile, yes, but I have a feeling most people have had the urge to spy on other people at some time in their lives.
Anyway, I'm losing track here.
Back to my friend's stories.
He told me that his boss - my friend works a nine to five office job - had just installed security cameras around his workplace.
My friend works at a fairly sizable firm with about 200-250 people employed right now.
Now these are a lot of people and I can understand why his boss would want cameras around the workplace.
What's interesting about my friend's stories is how the newly-installed cameras have affected the dynamics of his work environment.
As when any new major changes take place in the workplace, people have been affected.
He told me three notable changes.
First, he told me that a few people were sacked and some more were reprimanded.
The people that were let go were not from his department, so he didn't know all the details on why they were fired.
Although the buzz around the office is that these people committed workplace violations ranging from excessive sleeping on the job to serious theft.
Apparently, they got caught by the cameras.
Tough luck for them.
I bet they didn't even know that there were security cameras around their workplace.
Second, incidents of workplace-related violence have gone down significantly since the cameras were installed.
Reports of harassment also went down.
It just goes to show how willing people are to be bold and harass co-workers when they think nobody's watching.
Security cameras changed all that for sure.
Last and most surprisingly, productivity in their workplace is at an all-time high, he says.
Over the two months that the cameras have been in operation, productivity has never been higher.
This may or may not be directly attributable to the cameras but it certainly is a coincidence isn't it? It would appear that my friend's co-workers are afraid to slack off now that they know that they are being watched.
Now they can't sleep on the job or browse the net or play games all day long.
Now the first two effects that my friend told me is to be expected isn't it? After all, the purpose of installing security cameras around the workplace is to prevent theft and property damage, and also for personal safety of the employees.
Based on my friend's stories, these have been achieved with great success.
The last one really surprised me however.
I wouldn't have ever thought that having these cameras around the workplace would affect productivity that much.
Chalk that up as an added benefit of having security cameras around.
We were talking about spy cameras and how we had always wanted to use them when we were in college to do stuff with them - you know the usual - spy on the girl's dorm, record our other roommate's activities.
Juvenile, yes, but I have a feeling most people have had the urge to spy on other people at some time in their lives.
Anyway, I'm losing track here.
Back to my friend's stories.
He told me that his boss - my friend works a nine to five office job - had just installed security cameras around his workplace.
My friend works at a fairly sizable firm with about 200-250 people employed right now.
Now these are a lot of people and I can understand why his boss would want cameras around the workplace.
What's interesting about my friend's stories is how the newly-installed cameras have affected the dynamics of his work environment.
As when any new major changes take place in the workplace, people have been affected.
He told me three notable changes.
First, he told me that a few people were sacked and some more were reprimanded.
The people that were let go were not from his department, so he didn't know all the details on why they were fired.
Although the buzz around the office is that these people committed workplace violations ranging from excessive sleeping on the job to serious theft.
Apparently, they got caught by the cameras.
Tough luck for them.
I bet they didn't even know that there were security cameras around their workplace.
Second, incidents of workplace-related violence have gone down significantly since the cameras were installed.
Reports of harassment also went down.
It just goes to show how willing people are to be bold and harass co-workers when they think nobody's watching.
Security cameras changed all that for sure.
Last and most surprisingly, productivity in their workplace is at an all-time high, he says.
Over the two months that the cameras have been in operation, productivity has never been higher.
This may or may not be directly attributable to the cameras but it certainly is a coincidence isn't it? It would appear that my friend's co-workers are afraid to slack off now that they know that they are being watched.
Now they can't sleep on the job or browse the net or play games all day long.
Now the first two effects that my friend told me is to be expected isn't it? After all, the purpose of installing security cameras around the workplace is to prevent theft and property damage, and also for personal safety of the employees.
Based on my friend's stories, these have been achieved with great success.
The last one really surprised me however.
I wouldn't have ever thought that having these cameras around the workplace would affect productivity that much.
Chalk that up as an added benefit of having security cameras around.
Source...