The standard of cleaning, childcare or cooking by domestic workers is a hot topic of conversation in many households. Sometimes, it must be said, the complaints against home help may seem a little mean to say the least, ranging as they do between dissatisfaction being voiced with the standard of floor-mopping to disgruntlement with the amount of time a maid spends interacting with the children of the house or even on the phone to her friends.
Sadly, many heads of households use what is essentially a breakdown in communication between employer and employee to set up surveillance systems to check that the maids, drivers and cooks on their payroll are doing their jobs correctly. Many claim to do so solely to monitor interaction with their children. Others to make sure petty theft doesn’t go unnoticed.
“I installed security cameras to keep an eye on the maids and make sure my children are treated right,” said one busy mother in The National this week. The same report found that many home-installed cameras were easy to hack and that footage had sometimes been broadcast abroad. A cyber-security specialist also said that it was easy for crooks to “hijack” connections to a camera’s public IP address and such a breach of security put property and people at risk.
There is no doubt that CCTV, particularly in public spaces, can be a powerful force for good. It can help police prevent crime and it can assist an investigation into a serious incident.
But, the issue is far more complex in the domestic sphere. This report should serve as a wake-up call for those who insist on putting their home help under surveillance. Be aware that your cameras could be insecure. Be clear with your maid or cook as to why you’ve installed cameras in your home. Are you concerned for their safety or are you spying on your staff so you can nit-pick over their performance later? And finally, be in no doubt, that the blinking red light of a recording camera does nothing to build trust between employee and employer.