BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS

Watching your workers – Advanced

Worksheet
1 Warmer

a. Make a list of five words you associate with the word surveillance.

b. Consider an industry where you would expect to see heightened surveillance of staff. Write a
brief paragraph outlining the kinds of surveillance you would expect to see and their uses.

2 Key words

a. Find the words and phrases in the article that match the definitions below. Use the section
numbers to help you.
1. the skills or luck to make something happen at the most suitable moment (1)

2. examining something very carefully (7)

3. an area used or allocated for work, for example an office (7)

4. an official document that gives an inventor the exclusive legal right to make or sell their

invention for a particular period of time. (8)

5. a visual summary of information used to give an overview (8)

6. extremely tired and without energy to do anything else (9)

7. the amount of work that a person or organisation has to do (10)

8. causing severe damage or loss (10)

9. an illness or pain that is serious and lasts for a long time (10)
Advanced

10. making you lose hope, enthusiasm, or interest you had earlier (11)
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Workplace surveillance may hurt us more
than it helps
MANY EMPLOYERS ARE MONITORING STAFF, SOME DECIDING ‘WHO’S A SUPERSTAR AND WHO’S SLACKING OFF’
BY SARAH O’CONNOR
1 You can’t fault Amazon’s timing. In the middle of a
global pandemic, the online retailer has launched a
new workplace surveillance tool that could help to
slow Covid’s spread. Called AWS Panorama, it uses
computer vision technology to analyse footage from
security cameras in workplaces. It can detect when
employees are not complying with social distancing
rules, for example.
2 Amazon, which plans to sell the tool to other
employers, says it can improve workplace safety in
other ways, too. “Are people walking in spaces where
they shouldn’t be? Is there an oil spill? Are they not
wearing hard hats? These are realworld problems,”
a senior executive told the FT.
3 It’s easy to see how the technology could help in the
fight against Covid-19, since workplaces are a major
source of transmission. It could reveal pinch points
in factories where social distancing isn’t possible, for
instance, which might prompt companies to redesign
work processes. But, like any tool, the outcomes will
depend on the people who wield it.
4 Having read a lot of corporate safety incident reports
over the years, I’m struck by how often CCTV
footage is used to blame the worker who was hurt.
In a recent example from a British meat factory (an
industry where work pressures are often intense), a
man fractured his hand when running to fetch a metal
plate. “This is a behavioural safety issue [because
he shouldn’t have run] and he will be disciplined
upon his return,” the company wrote in the report
to the UK’s health and safety regulator. There was
no mention of why he felt the need to run in the
first place.
Advanced
5 In this context, it’s not hard to imagine a future
scenario where workers are blamed for contracting
Covid-19, possibly with implications for their sick pay,
by employers unwilling to consider their own role and
responsibilities.
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6 There is also the possibility of mission creep.
A testimonial on the AWS Panorama website from
guitar-maker Fender enthused: “We can track how
long it takes for an associate to complete each task in
the assembly of a guitar so that we’re able to optimise
efficiency and track key metrics.” The comment has
now been deleted from the site.
7 Many employers are exploring how to use
technological surveillance to drive productivity
and measure performance. In 2018, the research
company Gartner surveyed 239 big companies and
found more than half were using non-traditional
monitoring techniques, up from 30 per cent in
2015. Gartner defines monitoring as things such
as “analysing the text of emails and social-media
messages, scrutinising who’s meeting with whom,
gathering biometric data and understanding how
employees are utilising their workspace”.
8 Walmart, the US retailer, has filed a patent for a
system of sound sensors placed near cashiers
which could “determine a performance metric for
the employee based on the audio data”. In the
white-collar world, an array of companies are
selling software that enables employers to monitor
what workers do on their computers. Time Doctor,
for instance, will take regular screenshots of each
employee’s screen, measure their breaks and send
nudges if they stray on to nonwork related sites.
Supervisors are given dashboards that show
“who’s a superstar and who’s slacking off”.
9 But you don’t have to be a slacker to recoil at the idea
of constant monitoring. Humans are hard-wired to feel
uncomfortable being watched all the time, especially
when under pressure to meet stretching targets. “It
makes me afraid, physically and mentally exhausted,”
Hibaq Mohamed, an Amazon warehouse worker,
told researchers at the Open Markets Institute of the
monitoring at work.
Continued on next page
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10 A body of research suggests jobs that combine high
demands (concentration requirements, workload,
time pressure) and low control (discretion to make
decisions and schedule one’s own work) are ruinous
for human health. Our metabolic, cardiovascular
and neuroendocrine systems produce short-term
responses to stressful situations, but when the stress
is chronic, it can damage our bodies or tempt us to
self-medicate. One study in the US, published last
year, found that people in high-demand jobs with low
control were more likely to die than people in
high-demand jobs with high control.
11 Workplace surveillance should be subject to
regulatory oversight and ideally collective bargaining,
since individuals will be better placed to negotiate
the details en masse. It would be a dispiriting irony
if technology brought in to protect our health in a
pandemic made us sicker in the end..

Sarah O’Connor, 11 January 2021

©The Financial Times
All rights are reserved.
Articles are republished from the Financial Times
Advanced

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3 Understanding the article

a. In pairs, read the statements below and decide if they are True (T) or False (F) according to the
text. Correct the false statements.

1. Amazon has been creating software that can be used to monitor staff and
ensure that they comply with break time allocations. T/F

2. Some companies have been using monitoring equipment on their assembly

lines to speed up productivity. T/F

3. Technology could be used to help to prove that the majority of workplaces

are already free of Covid-19. T/F

4. Employers could be held accountable for the spread of Covid-19, with possible
implications for profits. T/F

5. For businesses whose staff work in offices, there is a range of software that
allows employers to monitor what employees do on their computers. T/F

6. Workers don’t feel comfortable being watched and this has made them feel
anxious and exhausted. T/F

7. Jobs that combine high demands and high control are often ruinous for human health. T/F

8. Regulatory oversight of workplace surveillance is necessary for individual workers

to be in a better position to negotiate the details with their employers. T/F

4 Business language – compound nouns and phrases

a. Match the words to make compound nouns or phrases from the article. Then check your
answers in the article.

1. key a. place
2. social b. hats
3. slacking c. metrics
4. work d. sight
5. screen e. off
6. work f. shots
7. over g. load
8. hard h. distancing

b. Write the compound nouns and phrases next to the definitions.

Advanced

1. hats that workers on building sites wear to protect their heads

2. measures that can help to slow the spread of an infectious disease by avoiding close contact

between people
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3. photographs or printed pages showing what appears on a computer screen

4. the job of checking that a process or system is working well

5. a group of numbers giving the most important information about a particular feature of a piece of

hardware or software

6. slowing down and doing something with less energy as before

7. the place where you work

8. the amount of work that a person or organisation has to do

c. Choose three compound nouns or phrases and write a sentence about your own job or that of
a family member.

5 Business Language – hyphenated compound adjectives

a. Complete these sentences with hyphenated compound adjectives from the article.

1. The pandemic has caused the economy to crash, with the retail, leisure and tourism industries
worst hit, while workers have been less affected as businesses have continued to
function in a virtual environment. (work done in offices rather than physical work, section 8)

2. Fear of rejection is in everyone and we all want to fit in with the team, which may go
some way to explain why workers have pushed themselves to deliver top-quality work even during
these most challenging of times. (behaviour that is caused by your genes and the way your brain
is made, rather than learnt from experience, section 9)

3. We believe that the recession will improve over the next few years, but businesses are likely to
struggle in the and should revisit their sales forecasts. (lasting for a short period of
time, section 10)

6 Discussion questions

a. Read and discuss the questions with your group.

• Which method of surveillance staff do you think will be the most commercially successful? Why?
Advanced

• How could the added surveillance negatively impact on the employer and employee relationship? In
what ways could it suffer?

• Is improved health and safety at work worth increased surveillance? Why/Why not?
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7 Wider business theme – pitching an innovative idea

a. You have the task of pitching an idea for a new surveillance tool that can be used to monitor
bus driver and passenger interactions. The monitoring tool’s primary aim is to reduce crime
and protect drivers from abusive passengers.

• Decide the different functionality that the tool will need and the technology that will make
this possible.

• Consider the position of the driver, passenger and any possible screens or barriers between them,
as this may influence your monitoring tool’s design.

• If you need some inspiration, use the internet to research existing technology aimed at protecting
people and increasing personal security.

• Create a pitch plan: practice describing what your surveillance tool is, what is does, why it is
needed and why businesses should buy it.

b. Pitch your surveillance product to the class. Invite them to ask questions about it and answer
as best you can.
Advanced

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 BUSINESS NEWS LESSONS
Watching your workers—Advanced
Teacher’s Notes
3. Understanding the article
Title of the lesson: Watching your workers
a. Have students read the statements and decide
Level: Advanced (C1-C2)
whether they are true or false. They can correct any
that are false.
Time: Up to 90 minutes

Groups: one-to-one, small groups,
whole class
Business topics: Health and safety at work;
technology for surveillance
Business language focus: phrases, compound
nouns and adjectives, industry vocabulary
Skills: Reading, speaking
Materials: One copy of the worksheet
per student
1. False. Amazon has been creating software that
can be used to monitor staff and ensure they
comply with social distancing rules.
2. True
3. False. Technology could be used to help to
prevent the spread of Covid-19 in workplaces,
which are a major source of transmission.
4. False. Employees could be held accountable for
the spread of Covi-19, with possible implications
for sick pay.
5. True
6. True
7. False. Jobs that combine high demands with low
control are often ruinous for human health.
8. True

4. Business Language – compound

Overview: This article discusses how
businesses have been using technology to
monitor their staff more closely and how this
has impacted on employees’ physical and
mental health.
1. Warmer
nouns and phrases
a. Students match the words to make compound nouns
and phrases. Remind students that although other
pairings are possible, they are aiming to make words
that appear in the article. They can scan the article to
help them answer.

a. Ask students to think about the word surveillance and Key:

to make a list of five other words that they associate 1. c. / 2. h. / 3. e. / 4. a. or g. / 5. f. / 6. g. or a. / 7. d. /
with it. 8. b.

b. Explain that there are many industries that use heavy b. Students match the compound nouns and phrases
surveillance to monitor their staff and this can be for with the definitions.
different reasons. Consider providing examples as
prompts if necessary: fine jewellery, taxi drivers, the Key:
police. Ask students to write a paragraph about an 1. hard hats 5. key metrics
industry with heightened surveillance and the kinds of 2. social distancing 6. slacking off
monitoring tools they might use. 3. screenshots 7. workplace
4. oversight 8. workload
Advanced

2. Key words
c. In part c, students choose three of the compound
Key: nouns or phrases and write a sentence about their
1. timing 6. exhausted job or the job of a family member. This exercise
2. scrutinising 7. workload challenges the students to use multiple vocabulary
3. workspace 8. ruinous items in a single sentence and to link words and
4. patent 9. chronic phrases. Put the students into pairs and ask them to
5. dashboard 10. dispiriting read each other’s sentences. Students should help
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each other to identify errors and make corrections
before moving on to the next task.
5. Business Language – hyphenated
compound adjectives
a. Students complete sentences using the hyphenated
compound adjectives in the wordpool.
Key:
1. white-collar
2. hard-wired
3. short-term
6. Discussion questions
a. In small groups, students discuss the questions that
expand on topics from the article. Invite groups to
share their answers with the rest of the class and
summarise similarities and differences once all
groups have contributed.
Provoke further discussion by asking the students
if privacy is more important than safety and why.
Advanced
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7. Wider business theme – pitching an
innovative idea
a. This activity helps students to build an important
business skill. Students practice pitching an idea for a
new product and consider the context of surveillance
within the transport industry. Put students in small
groups and ask them to discuss the points in part 1
together. If they have access to computers or
smartphones, invite them to search the internet for
inspiration, but explain that the aim is to develop a
new idea that will be competitive. Finally, they should
nominate a student to write the pitch plan with all
students in the group contributing to its development.
Remind students that the aim of the pitch is to state
what the tool is, what it does, why it is needed and
why businesses should buy it.
b. Ask each group to nominate another student to
deliver the pitch to the rest of the class. Prompt further
discussion by telling the class to ask questions about
the different pitches and to vote for the best product
once all groups have pitched.
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