Nearly six months after the World Health Organization declared the end of the Covid-19 global pandemic, many workers have returned to the office. Some were indifferent, others were even excited, and then there were those protesting, even kicking and screaming, wishing they could continue to work from home.
According to Cybozu, one of Japan’s leading groupware provider, this sentiment is growing among workers across industries, where Big Business have tracked everything from employees’ sent emails to keystrokes, and word-for-word conversations on sales calls. And yes, they still have the dreaded time-sheet where you must account for all the hours you were “working”.CEO Yoshihisa Aono shared that Cybozu’s corporate culture rests on the assumption that employees know best how to do their own jobs.
“If a company has a teamwork culture prioritizing the open exchange of information, then everyone can easily get an idea of what everyone else is doing. That means not just managers better understanding employees, but also employees better understanding each other. In an open communication culture, I don’t think workplace surveillance is necessary,” said Aono.Rather than surveillance by management, Aono suggests self-surveillance or self-reporting.
During the pandemic, the volume of messages exchanged via the Kintone open communication platform increased by 5x, showing how much employees actually used the platform as a substitute for in-person communication.