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

ZDNet ^ | 28 January 2022 | Tom Foremski

[sheana]

I work at home. Full time. Everyone in the company works from home. Owner/department manager decided to do a time study. Listing everything we did that day. My first one I wrote every single thing I did that day….including….bathroom break 5 minutes….fixed me a cup of coffee, 2 minutes. I transcribed it all into an email and at the bottom put…..all this time study did is waste about 1 1/2 hrs of my day. They never asked me to do it again. 😂

[brownsfan]

“I transcribed it all into an email and at the bottom put…..all this time study did is waste about 1 1/2 hrs of my day. They never asked me to do it again. 😂”

At a small company, you can actually reach someone. In a larger organization, that bit of common sense would go unnoticed.

I’m from the world where they gave you a job, if you did it, you got paid and got more work to do. If you didn’t, they got rid of you and got someone who would do the job.
They didn’t worry about the time you “wasted” decompressing with coworkers, or just collecting yourself, as long as you did your work in a timely fashion. I also worked in an environment where I was on call and those calls came any time.

Now, there is little to no latitude allowed for being human. You fill in the boxes in 15 min increments and it makes them happy, without regard to real accomplishment. On the flip side, nearly no one is fired. As long as you jump through the hoops, you keep your job. In my opinion, this is much worse.

[Wonder Warthog]

I be retired...no longer have to worry about it.

[Still Thinking]

Agreed. I’d much rather be judged by my accomplishments than by how well I tolerate fools.

[beef]

“I was never drug tested for any of my regular positions in the tech sector.”

It is SOP for most direct positions. If nothing else, the health insurance company wants to know.