Would you WFH if your company heavily monitored you

[Anonymous]

The title basically states the question.

A lot of people like WFH due to the lack of commute, but another huge benefit is using your downtime as you please. Lots of people drop kids off at school, grocery shop, do laundry, prepare dinner, watch Netflix, etc. However, employers are now clamping down, with many requiring more days in the office.

But, what if your boss offered you WFH on the condition that you couldn’t use your downtime as you please and enforced it with invasive and tinker-proof monitoring? Would you still want to WFH?

[Anonymous]

That sounds stressful.

[Anonymous]

No, but that is because I don’t want to be micromanaged whether in an office or at home. I am a professional and I can manage my workload without someone needing to know how many times I pee, or when I need a stretch break, or when I need to take a phone call from my doctor, or when I eat lunch, etc. I am a high performer. I respond to emails and IMs in a short time period. I attend meetings. If my boss needs more than that it’s not a good fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The title basically states the question.

A lot of people like WFH due to the lack of commute, but another huge benefit is using your downtime as you please. Lots of people drop kids off at school, grocery shop, do laundry, prepare dinner, watch Netflix, etc. However, employers are now clamping down, with many requiring more days in the office.

But, what if your boss offered you WFH on the condition that you couldn’t use your downtime as you please and enforced it with invasive and tinker-proof monitoring? Would you still want to WFH?

I want to work for an employer who pays me to do a job amd trusts that I will do my job. If they monitor my movements, they don't trust me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but that is because I don’t want to be micromanaged whether in an office or at home. I am a professional and I can manage my workload without someone needing to know how many times I pee, or when I need a stretch break, or when I need to take a phone call from my doctor, or when I eat lunch, etc. I am a high performer. I respond to emails and IMs in a short time period. I attend meetings. If my boss needs more than that it’s not a good fit.

You aren't the employ they need to monitor. Many are not like you and spend a lot of time not working. It is these people who are ruining WFH for many of us.

[Anonymous]

No, I would not work there. I’m a high performer who gets a lot done in a short time period. My reward from employers for my quick and accurate work has always been to get more work heaped upon me, so I slowed down even before WFH.

I do not need to be monitored like a child.

[Anonymous]

I would find another WFH job ASAP

[Anonymous]

I suspect they do. Don't care. They should also monitor people in the office.

[Anonymous]

It is going to take time, but everyone is going back eventually.

[Anonymous]

How would they know you are peeing vs. putting in a load of laundry?? This seems ripe for issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is going to take time, but everyone is going back eventually.

It will cycle.

[Anonymous]

I am an attorney who works from home and I have to account for every six minutes of my day. Nobody is paying attention to whether I go down and put a load of laundry in or sit with the nanny and my kids to have lunch, but my workload is way too high to get away with spending half the day not working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, but that is because I don’t want to be micromanaged whether in an office or at home. I am a professional and I can manage my workload without someone needing to know how many times I pee, or when I need a stretch break, or when I need to take a phone call from my doctor, or when I eat lunch, etc. I am a high performer. I respond to emails and IMs in a short time period. I attend meetings. If my boss needs more than that it’s not a good fit.

Same - if I was taking too long to reply to things, didn't seem available when ppl called or sent chats, wasn't doing work and getting things done - yes these are problems RTO or WFH. And managers can take action.

But monitoring keystrokes etc - yeah that's not a workplace culture I want to be part of.

[Anonymous]

No but I also wouldn't work at an in person job that closely monitored what I did every second. If I can get the job done well in the time frame it needs to be done or earlier, it should not matter how the time is used.

[Anonymous]

I spoke to multiple people in IT departments and most employees are monitored! They usually don't bring it up or use that information. I have seen the data in meetings and if there is an issue with work product they can easily access what you have been doing on your work phone, work computer, etc.

The fact you all don't think you are being monitored is a bit worrisome? I don't think you have someone necessarily watching you everyday, but if there is an issue they will check the IT info.

My spouse uses software for his entire team. He doesnt care when people work as long as it gets done, but they also have core hours. One person signed on and pretended they had been on all day. My husband could see (he access it because this person had performance issues he wasn't just looking at the info) when the person signed on, if they did anything, etc. They basically signed on to make it look like they were doing work, but didn't. They also lets say did 4 Xs that day when you should get 4 Xs done in one hour. It was laughable. This was a repeat problem and my husband even asked IT for confirmation because he wanted to make sure it wasn't a software issue. It wasn't.

If it is a one off thing, people brush it off, but companies are starting to notice patterns.