I'm an employer and I have GPS devices on all my production and sales vehicles. Every employee is told about them being installed prior to being given the keys. We look at the data occasionally to make sure employees are driving to job sites instead of taking long, unexplained detours. If someone doesn't show up to a job site, we can check where they are and see if there's an emergency with the employee or if someone is stranded. The device is also useful when a vehicle has been stolen. We do not question stops or breaks - of course, people need to use the bathroom and eat. I'm protecting my property (my vehicles) and making sure my employees aren't taking hours off from work without explaining why. Our vehicles also tell us when someone speeds. We work in emergency response and time makes or breaks us. We need to move fast, but not break the law or put anyone at risk.

On the same token, we also have security cameras in various rooms. We look at the feed only when we have reports of a break-in from our security system, and we've been able to catch people breaking in on a few occasions. Again, I'm protecting my property and my employees who may be working after hours and are still in the building.

So, while it is ridiculous to question minute-by-minute actions (that's just bad micro management), there are some legitimate reasons for these devices.

I find it hard to understand how employers have time to sort through this data. When I had W-2 employees and loads of business (prior to this summer), I didn't have time for that stuff.

What it sounds like to me is an employer that doesn't have a good system of objectives. Employers and employees need to sit down and make a plan on what they're going to get done. You really need buy-in from the employees. You shouldn't just give them a Gantt chart and say do whatever it takes to follow it. Things will change as soon as the project starts, so you have to stay on top of things.

This is what I *should* do, not what I always do well. It's much easier to gauge if they "look" busy, but that's not very helpful. They need to buy in and put their hearts in the project. You cannot get that from whether they look busy or even through spying. I had a notion to do something kind of like spying, and I told myself *no* b/c it would have been a crutch to allow me not to stay on top of things. I would have focused on spying reports and not whether my customers were happy with what we were actually doing.

I understand the need for it in certain cases. In the case of the pest control working bothering his person about stopping by a Stop-and-Go, this seems like a way to frustrate staff. You want to make it fun and have people feel interested in solving customer's problems for the joy of solving the problem. If they're shlepping through it, customers will notice.

Reminded me of this guy:
http://www.ted.com/talks/hasan_elahi.htm...

HIs alternate strategy: overwhelm the trackers with so much information about you that if they want to find something they have to dig. I don't really agree, but then I think about someone trying to track my internet activity as I log in/out of my 4 gmail accounts. This guy might be on to something...

lol. If you have a security clearance, you'll be tracked. For the paranoid delusional, not everyday, unless you're under investigation. But every 5 years, you'll cough up the info on where you've been, who you know, hang with, etc or lose your clearance. I assume you're not in this category?

I agree Hiraghm. I have known for some time now that truck drivers are monitored. They have told me that when they get close to the number of hours they are allowed to drive they get a warning signal and then the company can shut the truck off from a remote location. That may be a great safety measure but it sounds like they have gone to the next level. Monitoring calls and following someone in real time is just creepy.