News Forum - Bossware is coming to Thailand: Digital nomads, beware

[Thaiger]

Bossware is coming to Thailand to ruin the digital nomad lifestyle. The kingdom’s attempts to introduce digital nomad visas have been widely mocked and dismissed, but Thailand remains a big draw for digital nomads, even if they can only stay for a couple of months. Digital nomads looking for a more laid-back, less expensive option …

The story Bossware is coming to Thailand: Digital nomads, beware as seen on Thaiger News.

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[socal]

This reminds me of the book Bullshit Jobs by the late David Graber. 

[Manu]

One can imagine the multiple possiblities of excessive spying on workers this Bossware can bring to unethical employers (sooo many) and how this could easily be extended even further. A very bad thing indeed.

[Pinga]

Not sure why the article equates digital nomads to bums who sit on the beach doing nothing while they're supposed to work. Most digital nomads are either self-employed or work in jobs where their productivity is visible. Companies who choose to spy on employees would be making a big mistake as they would lose their best talent. Employees aren't robots - productivity is measured in results, not time a document was open. They'd do well to remember that and measure the results instead of spying.

[cowslip]

It doesn't look as if Thai immigration are too bothered by digital nomads ... yet .. however they are almost all working illegally. Using similar software that detects porn or anti government  postings it would not be difficult for a country that has already banned nearly 200,000 web sites to check up on nomads.

If nomads start becoming more noticeable it seems the whole thing could collapse unless the government introduces and affordable visa/tax system.

[Skip]

15 hours ago, Manu said:

One can imagine the multiple possiblities of excessive spying on workers this Bossware can bring to unethical employers (sooo many) and how this could easily be extended even further. A very bad thing indeed.

However... the cheaters among the digital nomads have brought this upon themselves

[Grumpish]

8 hours ago, Pinga said:

Not sure why the article equates digital nomads to bums who sit on the beach doing nothing while they're supposed to work. Most digital nomads are either self-employed or work in jobs where their productivity is visible. Companies who choose to spy on employees would be making a big mistake as they would lose their best talent. Employees aren't robots - productivity is measured in results, not time a document was open. They'd do well to remember that and measure the results instead of spying.

Depends - for a project  to be delivered  at fixed price, monitoring  would be intrusive, but where someone is working and charging an hourly or daily rate,  monitoring is reasonable. I am sure I am not the only person to have worked with people that seem to be so busy all the time until you look at how little they are actually doing. 

[Ferretkeeper]

4 hours ago, Skip said:

However... the cheaters among the digital nomads have brought this upon themselves

True.  Those that are genuinely working and producing will lose out due to the actions of the few who aren't. 

[Ferretkeeper]

10 hours ago, Pinga said:

Not sure why the article equates digital nomads to bums who sit on the beach doing nothing while they're supposed to work. Most digital nomads are either self-employed or work in jobs where their productivity is visible. Companies who choose to spy on employees would be making a big mistake as they would lose their best talent. Employees aren't robots - productivity is measured in results, not time a document was open. They'd do well to remember that and measure the results instead of spying.

I think in this case the work was late and over budget so there was at least some reason to check what was going on.

As is the case with non remote workers most will just get on with their job but there are always those who try to avoid working if they can. I don't like the idea of spyware of this type but since remote workers can't be seen and a small number will skive then it becomes difficult to see another option. 

[Ferretkeeper]

I can understand why someone might want to lay on the beach with coconut water and have a massage but with an elephant? That kind of kink is too far for me I'm afraid.