Taking worker productivity to a new level? Electronic Monitoring in homecare—the (re)production of unpaid labour

Abstract

This article explores the use of Electronic Monitoring (EM) in homecare and its impact on the ratio of paid to unpaid working time. It argues that whilst Zero Hours Contracts (ZHCs) blur the distinction between paid and unpaid labour, the introduction of EM can formalise and regulate the demarcation between the two. In the context of local authority commissioning and constrained budgets, the combination of EM and ZHC's may excise so‐called ‘unproductive’ but available labour from homecare. In particular, the minute‐by‐minute commissioning of care that EM facilitates means the cost of homecare is anchored in the time that worker's spend in client's houses, squeezing out paid travel, time between visits, training and supervision. Paid working time is minimised whilst maximising the use of unpaid time with resulting intensification of care labour.

Unpredictable times: the extent, characteristics and correlates of insecure hours of work in Britain

“…Lower organisational commitment associated with insecure working hours, then, carries costs in terms of lost ideas, less discretionary effort, higher absenteeism and increased recruitment and training costs incurred as the result of higher labour turnover (Rubery et al ., ). The scale of insecure working hours is particularly worrying at time when policy makers are concerned about the failure of productivity in Britain to return to its pre‐Great Recession rate (Moore and Hayes, ).…”

Living with uncertain work

“…For example, the UKHCA () has estimated that travel time comprises an average of 19 per cent of the hours worked by homecare workers, but it is typically time that is not paid for. UNISON's Ethical Care Charter, which has been adopted by 30 Councils, demands the payment of a Living Wage for homecare workers and a move away from the use of zero‐hour contracts, but recent research suggests that this has proved problematic (Moore and Hayes, ). Although a number of councils have given homecare workers the option of having a guaranteed hours contract, some care workers have been reluctant to have them because they involve unscheduled working time, including early mornings, evenings and weekends.…”

From annual ritual to daily routine: continuous performance management and its consequences for employment security

“…More recent systems may call on data from a far wider range of sources, including GPS and voice recognition technologies, customer and peer review, prompting the belief that even quality can be quantified (e.g. Moore and Hayes, ). Expressed in this way, developments in PM appear linear and incremental, since they are driven by a single aim; the intensification of surveillance allows the employer to intensify work (Carter et al ., ; Howcroft and Taylor, ).…”