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0 pointsMyFedora2y ago0 comments

If you can't trust your coworkers, it might be a sign that it's time to move on. A healthy workplace relies on a certain level of trust.

We already naturally adjust our behavior depending on whether we're with friends, family, coworkers, or supervisors. If your boss is having an affair with the receptionist, you're not going to bring that up in a team meeting. That's self-censorship at play, without any need for surveillance or written records.

Regarding the mental health impact of workplace surveillance, I've never encountered someone explicitly linking their stress or burnout to call transcripts or AI-generated meeting summaries. Many complaints I've heard about mental health tend to focus on these issues:

* Excessive workloads from bosses or coworkers with no recognition.

* Transfer to toxic work environments engineered to make you quit a year before retirement.

* Invasive management that gets too involved in your personal life, knowing details you never told them.

* Boss sharing personal (sometimes even health) information with coworkers.

* Being called into work even when on vacation.

* Soul-crushing jobs with high stress, like call centers.

* An imbalanced work-life dynamic, leaving no time for family or personal care.

* Persistent crunch time with no relief.

* Office politics with gossip and backstabbing.

* Workplace mobbing.

* A number of personal issues that I'm not going to list here.

These are some reasons employees face burnout and dissatisfaction at work. While I'm open to hearing more about the potential mental health impact of call transcripts or AI-generated meeting summaries, it's not something that appears in the complaints I've come across.

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samus2y ago· 2 in thread

That trust should not rely on people having to censure themselves all the time, since that would be harmful for an organization's performance in the long run. And a lot comes down to how that criticism is delivered.

MyFedoraOP2y ago

Self-censorship is a natural part of social interactions; it's what allows us to navigate complex relationships and maintain harmony in a workplace. Consider all those intrusive thoughts you’ve had—the ones you chose not to voice because they were inappropriate or would create conflict. Our ability to filter what we say is key to functioning in social settings.

It's like a skill we take for granted. When you see people with certain mental disabilities who can't regulate their words, it quickly makes you realize why self-censorship matters. It's a critical tool for keeping things from descending into chaos.

The question isn't whether self-censorship is necessary, but rather, how much is appropriate. I shared the example of someone who revealed a boss's affair during a team meeting. It was a moment of impulsiveness that led to serious career consequences, to put it mildly.

samus2y ago

I understand self-censorship, white lies, and similar social constructs are crucial so that people can get along at all, but sometimes it's important to be able to ruffle some feathers without fear of repercussions, for the benefit of the whole organisation. The Emperor's New Clothes and all that.

That ability goes out the window once all communication is written down verbatim because now people can point fingers and have a grudge with each others for years.

Now, that affair with the receptionist is really HR's problem, and it's just great for one's prospects at the company to inconsiderately flame on the boss' way of doing things (not!). But somehow it should be possible to criticize things without having to join management at the golf club or at pub crawl...

GrinningFool2y ago

> it's not something that appears in the complaints I've come across.

It reads to me like it is.

Arguably five to six of the issues in your list are exacerbated (if not enabled) by constant surveillance. Call transcripts are one more thing that adds to that feeling of surveillance.

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