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Shopify Is Monitoring Employee’s Slack Conversations….
Article

Shopify Is Monitoring Employee’s Slack Conversations….

Madeline Stone and Ann Gehan
Business Insider UK, 2022
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7

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E-commerce giant Shopify has come under fire for monitoring and censoring Slack channels’ content by its employees. As Madeline Stone and Ann Gehan report in Business Insider UK, some see this surveillance as a necessary step to maintain peace and decorum within the app. Opponents of the corporate monitoring say it’s an example of executive overreach that undermines open discussion of compensation and company policies.

Summary

Shopify, an e-commerce company, monitors and censors employees’ Slack channels.

Shopify has come under fire for having volunteer “channel champions” report employee conversations on Slack and shut down threads the monitors regard as disparaging to the organization. Like many companies, Shopify struggles to allow employees to be based at home while ensuring they consistently perform their work during what would be normal office hours.

Shopify employees are now afraid to use Slack due to their company’s constant monitoring of employee channels. They noticed that the company’s Slack feed became much more restrictive and censored in July 2022, just before Shopify announced layoffs. They report they no longer feel safe discussing...

About the Authors

Madeline Stone is an e-commerce correspondent for Business Insider. Ann Gehan has been a reporter for The Information and The Dallas Morning News.

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