YOU SAID IT: Put up no-crossing sign

Tessa knew she was being watched. After ten minutes of keyboard or mouse inactivity, a timer would appear on her transcription software, asking her to select a reason for the pause. A medical transcriptionist in Atlantic Canada, Tessa (who has been granted a pseudonym to avoid any conflict with her employer) works remotely, spending her days alone with doctors’ voices and diagnostic codes. Fusion, the platform she uses, logged her inactivity in detail, and Microsoft Teams displayed an “Away” status just five minutes after her last keystroke. Her employer had set a target: transcribe at...