Social How Walmart, Delta, Chevron and Starbucks are using AI to monitor employee messages

[Jballer]

I just assumed any company owned messaging software can be monitored anyway. The terms of employment specifically state this in any job I’ve worked.

 

[scoopj]

Exactly. My company has the right to discipline me if I post anything on social media that might bring the company into disrepute. I've known employees to be given Final Written Warnings for something they posted on Facebook.

Thank God the company doesn't know about my Stormfront account...

The reason I avoid social media like the plague! Well, that and because it’s a toxic cesspool of egotistical twats.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

It’s every company. If you think otherwise, you’re mistaken.

No. It's not. I am in IT management and cybersecurity. I've been directly involved in eDiscoveries. Messages are only supposed to be pulled in specific circumstances. Any IT department with a pair of balls would tell HR to fuckoff if they expect them to use their already stretched thin resources to compansate for shitty or lazy management by spying on the staff. Your company just sucks.

 

[Rob Battisti]

No. It's not. I am in IT management and cybersecurity. I've been directly involved in eDiscoveries. Messages are only supposed to be pulled in specific circumstances. Any IT department with a pair of balls would tell HR to fuckoff if they expect them to use their already stretched thin resources to compansate for shitty or lazy management. Your company just sucks.

Lol okay

Sentiment analysis has been around since the early 2000s when machine learning became useful.

you act as if running text through a machine learning algorithm requires an IT department.

 

[Rob Battisti]

No. It's not. I am in IT management and cybersecurity. I've been directly involved in eDiscoveries. Messages are only supposed to be pulled in specific circumstances. Any IT department with a pair of balls would tell HR to fuckoff if they expect them to use their already stretched thin resources to compansate for shitty or lazy management by spying on the staff. Your company just sucks.

Maybe you have my point mistaken, we don’t go in there and read peoples messages for the hell of it. We use ML to understand sentiment and understand retention flags.

Every company that can do this, does this. It’s not new. Nothing said on an internal channel is hidden.

You act as if it’s difficult to get access to someone slack history LMAO

 

[Satsui Ryu]

Lol okay

Sentiment analysis has been around since the early 2000s when machine learning became useful.

you act as if running text through a machine learning algorithm requires an IT department.

I am very well aware of whats's around. And if your HR is doing the jobs of your IT department your IT department must suck.

 

[Rob Battisti]

I am very well aware of whats's around. And if your HR is doing the jobs of your IT department your IT department must suck.

The IT department has nothing to do with it.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

Maybe you have my point mistaken, we don’t go in there and read peoples messages for the hell of it. We use ML to understand sentiment and understand retention flags.

Every company that can do this, does this. It’s not new. Nothing said on an internal channel is hidden.

You act as if it’s difficult to get access to someone slack history LMAO

It's not a matter of how hard or easy it is. It is a matter of if you should do it. You review messages in only specific circumstances such as the examples I've given. "Sentiment analysis" is not a good reason at all as whatever that entails should be done by the management of the company. If they rely on spying on their staff to that degree that is a failure of management.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

The IT department has nothing to do with it.

Your HR department is actually pulling Slack messages?

 

[Rob Battisti]

It's not a matter of how hard or easy it is. It is a matter of if you should do it. You review messages in only specific circumstances such as the examples I've given. "Sentiment analysis" is not a good reason at all as whatever that entails should be done by the management of the company. If they rely on spying on their staff to that degree that is a failure of management.

Sounds like you simply don’t understand what’s being done if you think aggregated date is spying.

 

[Rob Battisti]

Your HR department is actually pulling Slack messages?

We have an internally built communication channel just like the last 3 global companies I’ve been in over the last 15 years. All had easy access. I’ve been on boards that also had immediate access on Slack if needed. It’s both not a complicated thing nor is it something that the IT department needs to be involved in.

Can any manager just go in there and read his employees history? No.

Can any HR employee go in and see any employees history? No.

Is aggregate data pulled routinely? Yes across the board for all companies that use these tools.

Can an HR person create a case to gain access? Yes.

Is that a difficult thing which involves the IT department? Lmao no.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

Sounds like you simply don’t understand what’s being done if you think aggregated date is spying.

Your talking about the ease of pulling Slack messages and not involving IT

We have an internally built communication channel just like the last 3 global companies I’ve been in over the last 15 years. All had easy access. I’ve been on boards that also had immediate access on Slack if needed. It’s both not a complicated thing nor is it something that the IT department needs to be involved in.

Can any manager just go in there and read his employees history? No.

Can any HR employee go in and see any employees history? No.

Is aggregate data pulled routinely? Yes across the board for all companies that use these tools.

Can an HR person create a case to gain access? Yes.

Is that a difficult thing which involves the IT department? Lmao no.

Wow. That sucks. I am in a highly regulated industry with very specific least privilege access requirements. Giving anyone outside of IT that kind of access is a no no. And regardless of access. Reviewing user data without them knowing for something like checking "sentiment" is ridiculous. Again any IT department with a pair would not allow this.

 

[Rob Battisti]

Your talking about the ease of pulling Slack messages and not involving IT

Wow. That sucks. I am in a highly regulated industry with very specific least privilege access requirements. Giving anyone outside of IT that kind of access is a no no. And regardless of access. Reviewing user data without them knowing for something like checking "sentiment" is ridiculous. Again any IT department with a pair would not allow this.

Yeah I don’t need IT to pull messages. It’s just user access.

I can attest that in my 15 years of experience at the highest levels of both the finance and tech industry it’s literally a common occurrence across the board. It had been for as long as machine learning and internal communications existed. The idea that communication on internal channels are private is absolutely not the case. Your instance is the first I’ve ever even heard of it.

Either you’re in a very conservative company that doesn’t believe in data or it’s happening and you don’t know.

 

[Satsui Ryu]

Yeah I don’t need IT to pull messages. It’s just user access.

I can attest that in my 15 years of experience at the highest levels of both the finance and tech industry it’s literally a common occurrence across the board. It had been for as long as machine learning and internal communications existed. The idea that communication on internal channels are private is absolutely not the case. Your instance is the first I’ve ever even heard of it.

Either you’re in a very conservative company that doesn’t believe in data or it’s happening and you don’t know.

Nah. I'm directly involved in pulling this type of info. Basically you do it for stuff like legal matters, needing info pertaining to the job, troubleshooting, or the like. Considering you are pulling Slack messages I am very curious about how you specifically do it and what this information is used for.

 

[SandisLL]

Maybe you have my point mistaken, we don’t go in there and read peoples messages for the hell of it. We use ML to understand sentiment and understand retention flags.

Every company that can do this, does this. It’s not new. Nothing said on an internal channel is hidden.

You act as if it’s difficult to get access to someone slack history LMAO

I think it is attempt to save jobs for bunch of ppl in HR department and to pretend that these ppl are valuable for company in order to save their jobs....
In office employees usually are using PC according to codex approved by company and you will not see their " sentiment " by monitoring their PCs...
Ofc you might see if offences had been done and this is actual 20+ years ....nothing new.
However sentiment is nice word used to save jobs for xxxxxx parasites in offices who will analyse 'sentiment' in order to keep their jobs....and will lie 24/7/365 how important this bullshit will be.

 

[Rob Battisti]

Nah. I'm directly involved in pulling this type of info. Basically you do it for stuff like legal matters, needing info pertaining to the job, troubleshooting, or the like. Considering you are pulling Slack messages I am very curious about how you specifically do it and what this information is used for.

My company doesn’t use slack as I mentioned but I am fully aware of other companies that do.

We pull anonymous aggregated data and put it through ML algorithms for sentiment analysis idk how to be more clear

 

[I Am Legion]

My company and the one beofre it are huge fortune 500 companies. They tell you flat out, nothing you do from your work laptop, teams, emails etc are private. I know this and use it to my advantage. When I have a legit gripe about a pay plan, I will explain to an equal or employee rank above me why it is unmotivating and does not incentivize correctly to increase production. I do it in a positive tone and use numbers to back up my points. Several times changes have been made due to my input. The biggest issue is with the younger guys. they bitch and complain about everything. They never last long.

 

[Rob Battisti]

I think it is attempt to save jobs for bunch of ppl in HR department and to pretend that these ppl are valuable for company in order to save their jobs....
In office employees usually are using PC according to codex approved by company and you will not see their " sentiment " by monitoring their PCs...
Ofc you might see if offences had been done and this is actual 20+ years ....nothing new.
However sentiment is nice word used to save jobs for xxxxxx parasites in offices who will analyse 'sentiment' in order to keep their jobs....and will lie 24/7/365 how important this bullshit will be.

Lol

 

[Rob Battisti]

My company and the one beofre it are huge fortune 500 companies. They tell you flat out, nothing you do from your work laptop, teams, emails etc are private. I know this and use it to my advantage. When I have a legit gripe about a pay plan, I will explain to an equal or employee rank above me why it is unmotivating and does not incentivize correctly to increase production. I do it in a positive tone and use numbers to back up my points. Several times changes have been made due to my input. The biggest issue is with the younger guys. they bitch and complain about everything. They never last long.

Bingo

 

[Satsui Ryu]

My company doesn’t use slack as I mentioned but I am fully aware of other companies that do.

We pull anonymous aggregated data and put it through ML algorithms for sentiment analysis idk how to be more clear

So you are going behind your staff's back to see how they feel about the company? Have you thought about directly engaging with your staff for these types of purposes and have them actually be open about their sentiment so they are involved with the shaping of the company rather than checking their messages behind their back which can potentially be abused.