In May 2020,Prodoscore, a California-based productivity software startup, reported that,based on internal data collected from its 30,000 users,remote working during the coronavirus pandemic was making workers more productive. Prodoscore is part of a new wave of productivity tools, informally known as “tattleware”,which enable managers to monitor and time-track their employees’ activities while working remotely.
Research consultancy firm Gartner estimates that by the end of 2020, 80 per cent of companieswill be using monitoring tools to keep tabs on their employees,including their emails, social media messages and biometric data. These apps use these digital traces to create a profile of individual productivity. For instance, project management tool Asana offers the option to calculate an “influence” score for workers based on how many projects they share and invitations they send.The app also includes a feature called Workload,which lets managers see employees’ ongoing projects and reassign tasks if they feel a particular employee is overloaded.
Of course, white-collar workers are not the only quantified employees in the workforce.Long-haul truck drivers are monitored with electronic logging devices that keep track of their location and speeds to help them schedule sleeping and driving periods. Professional athletes are constantly monitored with activity sensors that track workload and fatigue.
These new tools are, of course, ripe for misuse when it comes to privacy and security concerns. ① But when used transparently and legally, they can provide a rich stream of information that allows companies and workers to understand and improve their productivity and engagement.
In 2016,mathematician Duncan Watts initiated a project with Microsoft dubbed the Organizational Spectroscope, with the goal of applying machine learning modelling to data including email metadata, office locations and job titles.② Early results showed that it was able to predict employee satisfaction based on email response time and measure work-life balance from the volume of email sent outside of office hours. In research conducted at Facebook in 2018, psychologist Adam Grant found that employees who didn’t respond to the company’s two annual surveys were 2.6 times more likely to quit in the following six months.
Perhaps the most fascinating series of experiments were conducted at the MIT Human Dynamics Laboratory by researcher Alex Pentland. Using an electronic badge capable of capturing a vast spectrum of behavioural data, like tone of voice and body language, Pentland studied more than 20 teams in settings including hospitals and call centres. The most telltale sign of a productive team was the level of social engagement between employees. More productive teams had more energetic conversations-not just with their leaders,and outside scheduled meetings.
生词汇总
consultancy n.咨询(公司)
transparently adv.透明地；显然地
keep tabs on监视， 密切关注
biometric adj.生物统计的
dub vt.把…戏称为；给…起绰号
overload v.使负担过重；使超载
capture v.捕获；攻取
long-haul长途的， 远距离的
spectrum n.范围；光谱
fatigue n.疲劳， 劳累
题型追加
1. We can infer from the first two paragraphs that Prodoscore_______
A) enables the employees to share their working data
B) can remotely monitor the work of the employees
C) is used to enhance productivity during the pandemic
D) is going to be used by about 80 percent of companies
2. Drivers and athletes are mentioned in Paragraph 3 to_______
A) explain how to quantify people’s workload
B) display the wide use of monitoring tools
C) exemplify the usage of tracing softwares
D) testify the necessity of keeping tracks
3.Concerning about the new tools’ risk to privacy and security, the author thinks that it_______.
A) can hardly gain full attention
B) may lead to some legal disputes
C) is caused by immature operation
D) can be avoided by proper use
4. The word “telltale” (Line 4, Paragraph 6) is closest in meaning to_______.
A)illustrative
B)legendary
C)traditional
D)warning
5. The author seems to think that tools like Prodoscore_______
A) are worth of further study
B) have many limitations
C)have a promising future
D) may violate privacy
篇章剖析
本文选自Wired。文章介绍的是(新冠肺炎) 疫情期间监控员工工作情况的有关软件和研究。第一、二段介绍远程监控软件可以监控和追踪员工，以及这类软件的使用情况；第三段介绍了这类技术在白领之外的人群中的应用情况；第四段探讨这类软件对隐私和安全是否存在威胁；最后两段介绍与这方面有关的一些研究发现。
全文翻译
2020年5月， 总部位于加利福尼亚州的生产力软件初创公司Pro do score报告称， 根据从其30000名用户收集的内部数据，冠状病毒大流行期间的远程工作正在提高员工的生产率。Pro do score软件是新一波生产率工具的一部分， 俗称“告密插件”， 它使经理能够在远程工作的同时监控和实时追踪员工的活动。
研究咨询公司高德纳估计，到2020年底，80%的公司将使用监控工具监控员工，包括他们的电子邮件、社交媒体信息和生理特征数据。这些应用程序使用这些数字痕迹来创建个人生产率的简要资料。例如， 项目管理工具Asana提供了一个选项，可以根据员工共享的项目数量和他们发送的邀请来计算其“影响力”得分。该应用程序还包括一个名为“工作负荷”的功能，让经理可以查看员工正在进行的项目，并在认为某个员工超负荷工作时重新分配任务。
当然，白领员工并不是唯一被量化的劳动力。长途卡车司机被电子记录设备监控，记录他们的位置和驾驶速度，帮助他们安排睡眠和驾驶时间。职业运动员经常被监控，活动传感器追踪他们的工作量和疲劳情况。
诚然，当涉及隐私和安全问题时，这些新工具已经成熟，会遭到滥用。但是，当被公开、合法使用时，它们可以提供公司和员工能够理解的丰富信息，从而提高他们的生产率和参与度。
2016年，数学家邓肯·瓦茨与微软合作，发起了一个名为“组织上的分光镜”的项目，目标是将机器学习建模应用于数据，包括电子邮件元数据、办公室位置和职务。早期的研究结果表明，它能够根据电子邮件回复时间预测员工满意度，并从办公时间以外所发送的电子邮件量来衡量工作与生活的平衡。心理学家亚当·格兰特在2018年Facebook公司进行的一项研究中发现，在公司的两项年度调查中没有做出回复的员工，在随后六个月内辞职的可能性(比做出回复的员工)要高出2.6倍。
也许最吸引人的一系列实验是由研究员亚历克斯·彭特兰在麻省理工学院人类动力学实验室进行的。彭特兰使用一种能够捕捉大量诸如声调和肢体语言等行为数据的电子徽章，对医院和呼叫中心等场所的20多个团队进行了研究。一个高效团队最突出的特征就是员工的社交参与程度。效率较高的团队会进行更富有活力的对话——不仅仅包含与领导的对话，还包含在预定的会议之外的对话。
解答
BBDAC
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