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Summary: The Big Brother Award in the "Industrial Relations" category is won by the Lidl Stiftung ("Foundation"), Co., in Neckarsulm, represented by the founder and "godfather" of the group, Dieter Schwarz for the almost slave-like treatment of its employees.

The BigBrotherAward 2009 in the “Workplace” category goes to all those consumed by the delusion that you will get productive and motivated staff if you subject them to comprehensive monitoring and make their performance measurable by numbers. As a representative and winner on points, farm machines manufacturer Claas Landmaschinen (internationally known as Claas Group) receives the award for the bugged harvesting machines.

The BigBrotherAward 2012 in the “Workplace” category goes to Bofrost (a German-based manufacturer and home delivery service for frozen foods), for unlawfully prying into data on a computer belonging to the staff council. Bofrost have evaluated an electronic file belonging to the staff council, and they have used a staff council paper that they discovered as grounds to make a staff council member redundant. Industrial courts have confirmed the illegality of these actions in several cases. On another staff council member’s computer, the remote control software Ultra VNC was installed without the staff council’s consent. A court settlement was required to make Bofrost ensure that they would no longer do this in the future.

The BigBrotherAward 2013 in the “Workplace” category goes to Apple Retail GmbH in Munich, for their comprehensive video surveillance of employees. The company operates the Apple Stores in Germany. Inside sources say that not only sales rooms and stockrooms in these stores have been monitored across the whole area and at all times, but social rooms as well. This form of total control of employees would be forbidden in Germany. The company is certainly taking an intransigent stance: It took arduous negociations with data protection commissioners until information signs about video surveillance were moved from “dog’s eye” to waist level.