The modern workplace: Will remote tech workers tolerate being monitored?

ZDNet ^ | 28 January 2022 | Tom Foremski

[ShadowAce]

[Jeff Chandler]

In order to relieve road congestion and reduce air pollution, every government worker who is able to telecommute should be required to.

Once that is accomplished, we can outsource their jobs to the Philippines.

[bk1000]

If the work is getting done, why monitor?

[brownsfan]

Yes.

[pierrem15]

What if it’s BYOD? If they secretly install monitoring software, I would recommend criminal prosecution.

[Steely Tom]

If the work is getting done, why monitor?

So customers won't have to actually inspect the work.

[Brian Griffin]

Hi Bob:

Thanks for working 8 hours and 54 minutes yesterday....

[brownsfan]

“If the work is getting done, why monitor?”

Because you have people aching to use their business degrees to show they can improve productivity. As far as I can tell, it seems business types are being taught that if you micromanage your people down to 15 minute increments, you can really make them productive!

Not sure how that works with the young indoctrinated mush heads, but I can tell you, this old war horse would not prosper under such conditions.

[Harpotoo]

Had a remote meeting today and always keep the camera turned off. Tape across it so no errors. Audio of course is on and mute button at the ready:-)

[NicoDon]

they don’t do anything useful anyways, so say they are being outsourced, but just fire them.

[Political Junkie Too]

If it's the company's computer, then let them count keystrokes and network traffic.

If they want to watch you on camera, then charge them for office rent.

-PJ

[MotorCityBuck]

Absolutely. I’ve done that since COVID.
My screen shows my CAD work, PowerPoints, and Excels sheets.
That’s all anybody wants / needs to see. Of course they hear my fish tanks in the background when the water levels get low. 😉

[Right Brother]

The Omicron surge

Ooooooooooooo.....scary!

[webheart]

If they don’t tolerate being monitored they will have to tolerate being replaced.

[webheart]

The Philippines is not where the jobs will go. India.

[EVO X]

A few thoughts on this. If one is employed as an exempt from overtime employee, having spyware on the company laptop should be an outrage. If an hourly worker is able to work from home, they are miss classified.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

But will workers agree to allow their employer to monitor their home office activities?

Short answer: no.

Demand for qualified tech workers far outpaces supply. Employers are in no position to demand anything this intrusive.

[NobleFree]

“Demand for qualified tech workers far outpaces supply. Employers are in no position to demand anything this intrusive.”

Yup - the labor market will resolve this issue. Insist on monitoring, and you’ll get employees who need to be monitored.

[NobleFree]

“So customers won’t have to actually inspect the work.”

What kind of fool doesn’t inspect what he’s purchased, regardless of where it was produced?