Observer or guardian?

Surveillance culture among corporate leaders is here. (I know you’re there, boss—Ed). The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has a survey revealing that 55% of bosses agree with collecting data on homeworkers, including the amount of time spent on laptops and on email-sending behaviours.

That said, only 28% say their organisations are using software to collect such data. Hearteningly though, 39% of bosses don’t feel any measures to collect information about homeworkers are acceptable.

Hayfa Mohdzaini, a CIPD research adviser, says surveillance can be a positive thing for “identifying signs of excessive workloads and burnout”.

And we guess that’s just why the 28% who have some form of surveillance software have bought it—to make sure their staff are taking it easy. Obvs.

Desert foxed

Davos in the Desert—the annual shindig for corporate leaders in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, turns out to be a difficult call. In 2018, CEOs boycotted the party after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This year the problem is Saudi Arabia declining a request to increase oil production to help out with energy prices while Russia continues its invasion of Ukraine.

The New York Times reports that CEOs are torn. While they may be reorganising their diaries to wash their hair instead of visiting the kingdom, they do still appear to be doing business with the country nonetheless. A bit of a blow to political efforts to organise unity in the face of Russia’s aggression.

Lots to think about here on the role of business in politics. Many CEOs will think they cannot win on this kind of issue. One wonders how the Ukrainians see it.

In whose interest?

Action by ‘impact investors’ in Germany—those that rally passive big fund investors to pursue climate change goals—may be a bit much, according to some observers.

Esteemed lawyer Michael Ulmer, of law firm Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, is worried about political goals targeted by investors: “While activist shareholders with their campaigns have changed the corporate landscape and company culture in Germany, these latest developments might go too far,” he writes.

Car trouble

On the subject of German business, a group of investors has launched legal action against Volkswagen, alleging the carmaker is championing a green transition in public, while privately lobbying against stricter climate rule.

The Financial Times reports the actions involved Swedish and Danish pensions as well as the Church of England Pensions Board.

Anyone with even the slightest idea of corporate history will remember VW and Dieselgate—when it came to light that some VW vehicle software could cheat lab tests. It could really do without another scandal over emissions of one kind or another.

Out on a limb

And lastly, greenwashing. Put your hands up if it worries you—don’t be coy. If it doesn’t, well, it should. Regulators have decided that esteemed financial institution HSBC has fallen foul of the rules, with a couple of posters making claims about the bank’s helping fund net-zero transition and another about planting two million trees.

The Advertising Standards Authority upheld a complaint saying that the posters “omitted key material information and were therefore misleading”. Oh dear.