Middle management is watching you

Move over Big Brother, Middle Management is watching you. Recently, a Malaysian woman revealed that her boss demanded she share her 'live location' during leave as 'proof of holiday'. By all accounts - except the boss' - this is HR creep. True, since the bad, old days of the pandemic, companies have nightmares about workers WFHing - instead of tapping into that Excel sheet, they are surely tippling G&T while binge-watching the Exorcist movie franchise. But citing a 'new company rule', the Malaysian taskmaster reportedly told the vacationing employee that whoever failed to share their 'live location' would be marked absent, never mind 'leave of absence' and all that paperwork stuff.

What next? Employees being told to share their biometric data and timestamped selfie every 45 mins? Some genius boffin in HR is sure to argue, 'This isn't surveillance. It's synergy.' So, any failure to upload photographic proof of 'real, visible grief' (in case of funerals) or 'sand between toes' (beach vacations) will result in pay getting docked because of 'unconfirmed cause of leave'? It's nice to know that company superiors care enough to monitor one's every move. But not to sound 'union-y', maybe it's time workers started keeping two phones - one permanently inside the workplace drawer. 'Employee of the month' title is sure to be in the bag forever.