Bosses ramp up work monitoring

Whether you’re working from home or are in the office full time, there’s a greater chance your boss is tracking your activity. A study from video conferencing tools maker Owl Labs found that 46% of workers said their company has added or increased the use of software that monitors employee productivity or activity.

Work monitoring typically includes recording keystrokes, taking pictures of a computer screen or snapping photos with a webcam to make sure employees are at their desk. In the study, 62% of respondents worked full-time in the office while 38% were either remote or hybrid workers.

Working in the office also added costs for employees. Hybrid workers said they spent $42 more on days they worked in office than when working remotely.

Shopping for Gen Z

The owner of Roosevelt Field, Walt Whitman Shops and Smith Haven Mall wants teens and young adults to shop less online and more in physical stores. Simon Property Group has a new social media ad campaign to “generate enthusiasm among members of Gen Z … to find new connections and experiences at the mall.” With 94 malls including those three on Long Island, Simon is the nation’s largest mall owner.

Reality check

Most companies are still using old-fashioned and unnecessarily costly payment methods. Three-quarters of companies surveyed by payments industry research firm PYMNTS said they use paper checks instead of more efficient and cheaper digital payments to pay some vendors. PYMNTS noted the manual processing of paper checks can increase errors and slow transactions, “adversely impacting a company’s cash flow and financial stability.”

Waymo, Hyundai team on taxis

Autonomous driving company Waymo will grow its fleet of robotaxis by adding Hyundai electric vehicles. Waymo, owned by Google parent Alphabet, is in a small number of markets, including San Francisco and Phoenix, where it uses retrofitted Jaguar EVs. Waymo said its sensors and software will be built into Hyundai Ioniq 5s in “significant volumes” at a new Hyundai plant in Georgia. — BLOOMBERG NEWS