ON AIR: Spying at work & Are models too skinny?
We're on air right now. Click here
to listen now. And be sure to leave your comments, and we'll read out as many as we can during the programme.
Today we are talking about employers spying on their workers, and if there should be a ban on skinny fashion models... read on to find out what our callers are talking about right now....
Our first debate....Several employees at Hewlett Packard, one of Silicon Valley's oldest & largest companies, could be facing criminal charges. In their zeal to uncover who was leaking boardroom secrets to the media, investigators hired by the company, impersonated directors and journalists to get hold of their employees home phone records.
According to a survey by the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley College in the US: 90% of employers observe their employees electronic behaviour. And the American Management Association says 38% of companies even hire people to read their employees emails. Some companies track their workers through satellite navigation systems... and some say you can't smoke or drink too much, when you're OFF the clock....
How much should your company own you?
Scott McDonald is CEO of Monument Security in Sacramento, California. He told Anu that this technology has changed his business for the better - because now he can tell people who pay him for security services that his staff are definitely providing the service they are paying for. Previously it was only when a client complained that he knew his staff weren't doing their jobs.
D Powell Having been an employer, I will say that any equipment provided in the office ie: computers belongs to me and yes, I own the information contained therein.
Tracy - Conneticut
In my home state of Connecticut, there is a law mandating that any employer who plans to monitor phone calls, e-mails or other modes of workplace communication must notify the employee in writing first. I think we're the only US state to do this.
Bill Thompson is in our studio - he is a computer consultant and an online privacy expert. He says essentially this is about trust, if your employer trusts you then there is no need for this kind of spying, if your employee trusts you as an employer then you shouldn't have a problem with any of their snooping measures. He does feel it should not be as covert as it is, it should be open and employees should know about it.
RichardEven though I write this from work, I side with the people who say that, on company time at least, monitoring of computer use, company cell phone use, etc., is okay
NEXT....
In Madrid, organizers of fashion week have turned away underweight models, after some people protested that young girls and women were trying to copy their rail-thin looks.
The Madrid show turned away 30% of women. Medics will even be on hand at the show to check models on the day. And the mayor of Milan told an Italian newspaper this week she would seek a similar ban for her city's show unless it could find a solution to "sick" looking models.
What do you think of the ban? About time? Or unfair?
Lerato Moloi is a South African Model and former Face Of Africa finalist - she was dropped by New York agency Elite for allegedly being too fat. Her concern is that young girls are too easily influenced by "bad" role models and aspire to be unhealthy and too thin. She also works at a modelling agency in South africa and she sees wanting to be thin as a western aspiration because African women are not built in that way. They don't encourage women to be waif-like - that's not part of the African market
Simon, St. Albans United KingdomIf it is true that they are setting the cut-off at 18, they have just banned the current US Open champion Maria Sharapova from their catwalk. Sharapova is possible one of the healthiest people in the world.
Eunice, Sri Lanka
The mind of a teenager is very fragile, fashion models are a very strong role model to them. As soon as they see the standard of skinny models they are naturally inclined to follow.
Anais in Zurich, SwitzerlandI think it's an absolutely brilliant idea! I have always been very petite but the constant exposure to underweight child models has definitely shaped and distorted my perception of beauty. I think both obesity and annorexia are directly related to this insane cult of skeletal models and emaciated super stars.
Harriet in London
OUTRAGEOUS!! Who on earth should dictate whether you are too skinny for the public or not? As someone who is petite and thin, I find it extrememly upsetting that people feel they can comment on my frame size and yet would never tell someone who is overweight they look "dreadful" because they are too fat.
Comments Post your comment