With most of the U.S. workforce operating from home, many companies are trying to figure out how to best ensure the productivity of their workers. On Friday, Callie Crossley joined Boston Public Radio to air her grievances with Sneek, a desktop app that photographs employees at their computers every few minutes for bosses and co-workers to monitor.
"I was stunned when I read this,” Crossley said, lamenting that "I don’t know why I should be stunned.”
Aside from the the constant monitoring, Sneek allows workers to start instant video chats with one another, without the need for both parties to hit “accept.”
“It’s supposed to maintain a connected office dynamic for remote workers,” Crossley explained. "A lot of people are not having it. … It feels like surveillance of the first order.”
In an interview last week with Business Insider, the company’s co-founder acknowledged that Sneek wasn’t for everyone, but said there are "lots of teams out there who are good friends and want to stay connected when they're working together."
"The founder of it, I guess, said [spying] was not what it was meant for," Crossley said. “But, you know … here we are!”
Representatives from Sneek say that, in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, signups for the service have increased tenfold.
