Though not a viable option for all occupations, remote work is driving significant change in HR policies and practices. It is also causing shifts affecting entire industries; recent reports documented an exodus of tech workers who, thanks to flexible work options, opted to live and work outside of the Bay Area and other hotspots.
But both remote work and employee surveillance are concepts that predate the COVID-19 pandemic, even if employees may be more aware of them because of the changes of the past year and a half. Productivity is not the only reason employers might track employee activity; others have cited the use of technology for contact tracing purposes or for securing intellectual property.
