A modern-day Panopticon

The Panopticon functions as a kind of laboratory of power. Thanks to its mechanisms of observation, it gains in efficiency and in the ability to penetrate into men's behaviour; knowledge follows the advances of power, discovering new objects of knowledge over all the surfaces on which power is exercised. (Michel Foucault, Discipline and Punish p204)

The panoptic schema makes any apparatus of power more intense: it assures its economy (in material, in personnel, in time); it assures its efficacity by its preventative character, its continuous functioning and its automatic mechanisms. (p206)

Sitel Corporation is a telesales company based in south-west London. I worked there for three months a few years ago. The working environment seems to be directly modelled on Bentham's Panopticon, as described by Foucault.

There are various levels at which employees are monitored. At the most basic level, we have the layout of the office. The observation of work, which would have taken place on this level in Bentham's time, is actually carried out through the computer system, of which more, later.

There are rows of desks, with computers all facing towards a larger aisle, where the team supervisor stands or sits. They watch over ten or twelve employees each. There are CCTV cameras throughout the office, which help to monitor the comings and goings of shift-workers (if the late shift leaves after the supervisors, for example).

The computer and telephone system has two different aspects. Firstly, a standard feature of the computer is the login. This is done when workers arrive, and is used to calculate wages. If it is suspected that someone has logged-in on behalf of someone else who is late, the CCTV cameras will be checked.
When making a sales call, the computer dials a number, which is transmitted to the headset when answered. A script is shown on the screen, which the salesperson reads to the customer. Sales are registered on-screen too. The calls are sent through to computers automatically, so employees need to log off for toilet breaks or lunch. This 'lost' time is added up each week, and must fall within a certain range.

At lunch time, each worker sets up a screen saver, which counts down the minutes and seconds from 60 minutes to zero. When the timer reaches zero, and the person hasn't returned, the screen turn bright red, and is easily noticed by the supervisor. A warning may be issued - long lunches are not permitted.

As for the calls themselves, the computer measures the length of each call, and the number of customers spoken to (which is determined when the salesperson moves through the 'script' pages). Sales are obviously also registered. At the end of each week, scores are given. High sales are most important, but it is also necessary for staff to maintain a high sales-to-customer contact ratio. Scores are written on a team notice-board and displayed in the open-plan office throughout the following week.
All sales calls are recorded as a matter of course, but there is also a system whereby supervisors or other senior staff may listen in on a particular employee's calls. This is the most effective motivator, and in my day there was much futile discussion about whether it was possible to detect if someone was listening in.

"The Panopticon is a machine for dissociating the see/being seen dyad [...] to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power." (p201-202)

If an employee's weekly sales scores are unsatisfactory two weeks running, they are called for a meeting with the supervisor. Employees will then be classified in roughly the same way as in Bentham's day: either workers or prisoners displayed "laziness and stubbornness" or "incurable imbecility" (p203) - nowadays the distinction is cast as "won't change" or "can't change".