Microsoft always seeks to be at the forefront. That is why its functions stand out for their innovation. But also for its adaptability. The pandemic boosted teleworking and its difficulties. In response to this, Microsoft 365 incorporated the Productivity Scores functionality. This is a productivity measurement system for employees. However, David Heinemeier Hansson accused this function of being invasive. Hansson is the creator of Ruby on Rails and founder of Basecamp.
The founder of Basecamp made his accusation on Twitter. In it he expresses his appreciation for the new functionality of Microsoft 365. It is based on the characteristics of Productivity Scores. Since, the tool does not only measure generically the productivity of the employees of an organization. It does so based on the use of the tools of the Microsoft online suite.
For this, it uses Microsoft Graph technology, the ‘People API’. This technology allows to extract and work with people’s work data. As well as their interpersonal relationships and their activity with digital documents. With it, an employer obtains information about the time their employees spend sending mail. Similarly, the time spent in the company’s chat. For its part, the platform can give recommendations based on this data.
An invasive technology
With these possibilities, Hansson says that this function “destroys the reputation” of Microsoft. Because it normalizes employee surveillance to an extreme level. Managers will be able to access the data with no knowledge of the affected employees. On the other hand, the visualization of metrics can be predetermined. These individual data include names, group affiliations and the location of each worker. Data anonymization is possible but optional.
It should be noted that this function is impossible to take advantage of in some countries. This is due to conflicts with labor policies and laws. Without a doubt, this functionality of Microsoft 365 will alert more than one employee.
