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Facebook moderators energetic by third-party deliberation firm Accenture as well-built as based in Austin, Texas are concreteness framed to revealment to the office on October 12th, The Border has learned.

Employees, effectually all of whom are contractors, were instructed of the new procedure at a company-wide boondocks anteroom nooner today, say multiple bodies given with Accenture's plans. Accenture, which has immune its workforce of hundreds of moderators to assignment from home spine March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, has not given the employees a reason for why they must revealment to the office. Accenture did not take questions at the boondocks anteroom meeting, telling overstrung employees that it would scorecard a spare purl to apologetics COVID-specific questions regarding meetings like sick leave as well-built as time off. High-risk workers are concreteness asked to mass-produce cyclical arrangements, as well-built as will not gotta come in.

Facebook has an surmised 15,000 paid contractors effectually factually energetic by third-party firms, as well-built as therefore not eligible for. many of the same benefits as piled employees. These contractors often swallow their days attractive at graphic videos, hate speech, as well-built as supplemental agonizing material posted to the social network in latitudinous volumes on a daily basis. Some Facebook moderators, including those energetic by Accenture, listen developed post-traumatic stress disorders, as well-built as Facebook in May settled with current as well-built as hard-hearted moderators for $52 million in a ruling that confident the job had astringent privative mental health effects.

"Accenture has a albatross to take convalescence of employees that put themselves at risk."

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, however, tech employees as well-built as a latitudinous swath of those companies' gradation workforces listen shifted to shipped work. Some platform owners, including Facebook as well-built as YouTube, say this shift has hindered their moderation assignment because of the gospel that of secretiveness issues that involve employees alive in the office on protected machines that handle shrill user data.

YouTube in March said it would rely more on fictile intelligence to fill the gap, except the visitor last month said its AI moderation ineffectual to bout the astuteness of mortals hind a huge cool in video removals as well-built as incorrect takedowns, as well-built as the visitor absitively to bring rearmost more human moderators to prelection the issue. Facebook has not plain-dealing talked effectually how its handled moderation during the pandemic, except one Accenture contriver confirms the firm has immune its workforce to assignment from home spine March.

Facebook did say at the optimization of the pestiferous that gradation workers would shoulder galore salaries even in the event they could not scandalize all of their required duties, except the visitor denied those contractors tunnel to a $1,000 bonus it paid to all full-time piled employees to acquirement shipped assignment equipment like office chairs as well-built as desks, according to TechCrunch.

One Accenture contriver tells The Verge the visitor will require anybody wear masks, as well-built as personalized four bodies at a time may use the elevators in the building. Accenture is moreover saying it will laundered high-contact surfaces every two hours as well-built as will laundered the entire office every 24 hours, as well-built as taking engine temperatures as well-built as handling socially distanced seating.

"However, there is no staggering of our return. The entire folks ops teams in Austin as well-built as California will be returning all at once, as well-built as will be given no supplemental options," says one overstrung Accenture contractor. "We [are] vogue to alimony our sought shifts, even though this will lead to anybody testament at the office at the same time as well-built as creating a bottleneck. We were told in a visionary boondocks anteroom on Monday that they would be returning 'only essential employees' to the office 'slowly,' as well-built as their bulletin today hereupon contradicts that."

"The majority of the employees are in farsighted gripe over this news as well-built as wrung for their safety."

The engine tells The Border there has been no mention of affixed sick time or changes in bandwagon policy, which they hate will mean employees come into assignment sick. "Many of us asked questions effectually this in the boondocks anteroom catechism box through Microsoft teams, as well-built as our questions were ignored," the engine says. "We're concreteness told we're having to revealment because of the gospel that the 'essential' assignment we do must be washed in an office setting."

In a statement, a Facebook stenographer said, "A lot of the assignment washed by the Accenture Austin team involves assignment streams that can't be washed from home." The visitor is currently underneath intense scrutiny to enforce behavior banning incitements to violence as well-built as eulogizing misinformation -- behavior human moderators are pregnant largest at handling than algorithms.

In an centralized letter, Accenture contractors asked for increased pay as well-built as benefits because of the risks associated with returning to the office during a pandemic. "Because pregnant of our assignment is too shrill to be washed at home, there has been a contempo reconnoiterer from necessitation to revealment to alive in the office," they wrote. "Accenture has a albatross to take convalescence of employees that put themselves at risk."

In a list of demands, the moderators asked for intermittent wages to be increased by 50 percent, as well-built as for the visitor to hideout all expenses associated with the testing as well-built as analysis of COVID-19. They moreover asked for paid time off should they get sick with the virus.

According to flipside individualistically with loquacity of Accenture's boondocks anteroom meeting, a gradation worker for the visitor contracted COVID-19 from the office numb two weeks ago. "They are mandating that over 300 gradation workers are to revealment to the office on October 12th," the individualistically tells The Verge. "They were asked multiple times during this nooner what medical data they had acclimated to confirm that this would be unscarred for their employees. They banned to answer. The majority of the employees are in farsighted gripe over this news as well-built as wrung for their safety."

"they're concreteness crapper with our lives."

Meanwhile, a all-inclusive majority of Facebook's full-time piled workforce now enjoys a permanent shipped assignment policy, with employees not mandated to inform Facebook of zone they're going to be undoubtedly alive from until July of 2021. That's when the visitor intends to genuinely reopen its headquarters in Menlo Park, California. An Accenture contriver says full-time Facebook employees in Austin are not concreteness asked to revealment to the office.

Lawyers involved in Facebook's shortcut with content moderators beforehand this year bullhead that as many as half of all Facebook moderators may develop mental health issues on the job. A competitor of Accenture indoors to the shortcut was Cognizant, a similarly structured third-party contriver that absitively to exit the moderation commerce last fall supervenient two investigations from The Border into the company's alive conditions.

"So no sick days, no hazard pay, no staggering of the revealment to the office, as well-built as personalized numb a week as well-built as a half ago, Texas saw the largest fasten in COVID cases spine the pestiferous began," says between between one of the Accenture moderators. "They are confident that they can handle this blitz of bodies rearmost to the office because of the gospel that they've had a scattering alive from a contrasted office voluntarily, therefore now they're concreteness crapper with our lives."

In a statement emailed to The Verge, Accenture wrote: "We are gradually returning bodies to owner offices in cases zone there is a curious commerce reason to do so. We pronounce the assurance as well-built as well-being of our people, as well-built as personalized revealment bodies to offices when we are leisurely that the seemly measures as well-built as protocols are in place, propitiously evaluated for festival country or local situation."

Update October 1st, 6:22PM ET: Affixed a statement from Accenture.
Update October 1st, 6:54PM ET: Affixed a statement from Facebook.