Would you WFH if your company heavily monitored you

[Anonymous]

No, it's why I left.

I had to bill my hours (even though I was not a billable department) to clients in 15 minute increments. I understand lawyers do it in 6, but I'm not a lawyer. I shouldn't have to account for every minute of an eight hour day. I'm exempt. All of my actual clients are other people in the company (finance/compliance dept), but some how I had to revert back that the issues I'm working on were charged to a client. It probably wasn't even legal, I really do not know. But it sure changed from when I was first hired, and only had to put worked/not worked, then hours worked (8), then 1/4 hour accruals, with evidence (spreadsheets, log in screen shots, etc).

[Anonymous]

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

This. If my office was literally dictating that I couldn't pee during my work day (a la amazon) I wouldn't want to work there anyways. But literally, they wouldn't know if I was doing laundry or prepping lunch or had netflix on in the background. As long as the work is getting done, I think this is much ado about nothing.

[Anonymous]

I assume I am being monitored. I’m still a million times more productive than mos people that work with me, so I don’t really care. I’m taking my time back. The poster sho said all their good behavior got them was more work is right. Management is about managing the resources you have, which includes high performers who need to take it easy sometimes. No one can work around the clock indefinitely.


If your goal is to get competent people to quit, ramp up the surveillance though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I assume I am being monitored. I’m still a million times more productive than mos people that work with me, so I don’t really care. I’m taking my time back. The poster sho said all their good behavior got them was more work is right. Management is about managing the resources you have, which includes high performers who need to take it easy sometimes. No one can work around the clock indefinitely.


If your goal is to get competent people to quit, ramp up the surveillance though.

How are they monitoring you? I've often wondered the same. I am profitable for my company, so I don't see how firing me for working on an Instacart order or checking DCUM would improve their bottom line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why don't you just enforce performance standards? Write someone up for not being responsive or missing deadlines or not being productive. Do the same thing you would do in the office.

Fed here. You just can’t. It’s a years long process to try to fire. And now we have “pre- PIP warnings” that you have to issue before a PIP. I can tell people are away from their desks for long periods of time but it’s not something I’m able to track otherwise.

You can absolutely have performance standards for Feds, including for jobs that are mostly soft skills. Maybe HR or your management is not supporting you in this, but IME a lot of managers don't want to think about what good performance actually is and write that down so that it can be in a performance standard. And then they say "I can tell when someone is away from their desk" as if that is indicative of anything: my little green circle turns off when I'm on long phone calls, for example. You should be meeting regularly with your people, and they should be reporting what they're planning to do and what they've done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I assume I am being monitored. I’m still a million times more productive than mos people that work with me, so I don’t really care. I’m taking my time back. The poster sho said all their good behavior got them was more work is right. Management is about managing the resources you have, which includes high performers who need to take it easy sometimes. No one can work around the clock indefinitely.


If your goal is to get competent people to quit, ramp up the surveillance though.

How are they monitoring you? I've often wondered the same. I am profitable for my company, so I don't see how firing me for working on an Instacart order or checking DCUM would improve their bottom line.

It wouldn't, but also I would never do this on the company computer instead of my personal phone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why don't you just enforce performance standards? Write someone up for not being responsive or missing deadlines or not being productive. Do the same thing you would do in the office.

Fed here. You just can’t. It’s a years long process to try to fire. And now we have “pre- PIP warnings” that you have to issue before a PIP. I can tell people are away from their desks for long periods of time but it’s not something I’m able to track otherwise.

You can absolutely have performance standards for Feds, including for jobs that are mostly soft skills. Maybe HR or your management is not supporting you in this, but IME a lot of managers don't want to think about what good performance actually is and write that down so that it can be in a performance standard. And then they say "I can tell when someone is away from their desk" as if that is indicative of anything: my little green circle turns off when I'm on long phone calls, for example. You should be meeting regularly with your people, and they should be reporting what they're planning to do and what they've done.

DP. Amen. It’s amazing how productivity goes up when managers do their own jobs. No need to look at anyone’s logins on my team. I know who’s working.

-fed manager

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why don't you just enforce performance standards? Write someone up for not being responsive or missing deadlines or not being productive. Do the same thing you would do in the office.

Fed here. You just can’t. It’s a years long process to try to fire. And now we have “pre- PIP warnings” that you have to issue before a PIP. I can tell people are away from their desks for long periods of time but it’s not something I’m able to track otherwise.

You can absolutely have performance standards for Feds, including for jobs that are mostly soft skills. Maybe HR or your management is not supporting you in this, but IME a lot of managers don't want to think about what good performance actually is and write that down so that it can be in a performance standard. And then they say "I can tell when someone is away from their desk" as if that is indicative of anything: my little green circle turns off when I'm on long phone calls, for example. You should be meeting regularly with your people, and they should be reporting what they're planning to do and what they've done.

DP. Amen. It’s amazing how productivity goes up when managers do their own jobs. No need to look at anyone’s logins on my team. I know who’s working.

-fed manager

+1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why don't you just enforce performance standards? Write someone up for not being responsive or missing deadlines or not being productive. Do the same thing you would do in the office.

Fed here. You just can’t. It’s a years long process to try to fire. And now we have “pre- PIP warnings” that you have to issue before a PIP. I can tell people are away from their desks for long periods of time but it’s not something I’m able to track otherwise.

You can absolutely have performance standards for Feds, including for jobs that are mostly soft skills. Maybe HR or your management is not supporting you in this, but IME a lot of managers don't want to think about what good performance actually is and write that down so that it can be in a performance standard. And then they say "I can tell when someone is away from their desk" as if that is indicative of anything: my little green circle turns off when I'm on long phone calls, for example. You should be meeting regularly with your people, and they should be reporting what they're planning to do and what they've done.

DP. Amen. It’s amazing how productivity goes up when managers do their own jobs. No need to look at anyone’s logins on my team. I know who’s working.

-fed manager

Just wait- you’ll get these ingenious slackers. They do such a bare minimum of work and it’s impossible to prove.

[Anonymous]

Yes I’d work there, because I do my job. I’m not doing anything sketchy. I’m assuming this place allows lunch and bathroom breaks.

[Anonymous]

No.

I do a lot of my work off my computer. Ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Why don't you just enforce performance standards? Write someone up for not being responsive or missing deadlines or not being productive. Do the same thing you would do in the office.

Fed here. You just can’t. It’s a years long process to try to fire. And now we have “pre- PIP warnings” that you have to issue before a PIP. I can tell people are away from their desks for long periods of time but it’s not something I’m able to track otherwise.

You can absolutely have performance standards for Feds, including for jobs that are mostly soft skills. Maybe HR or your management is not supporting you in this, but IME a lot of managers don't want to think about what good performance actually is and write that down so that it can be in a performance standard. And then they say "I can tell when someone is away from their desk" as if that is indicative of anything: my little green circle turns off when I'm on long phone calls, for example. You should be meeting regularly with your people, and they should be reporting what they're planning to do and what they've done.

DP. Amen. It’s amazing how productivity goes up when managers do their own jobs. No need to look at anyone’s logins on my team. I know who’s working.

-fed manager

Just wait- you’ll get these ingenious slackers. They do such a bare minimum of work and it’s impossible to prove.

How do you know they’re not doing work then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

I would expect work on my work computer to be monitored, but I would not expect anyone to be able to tell I was taking a break to throw a load of laundry into the dryer, or was letting the plumber into the house to do a repair.

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.

This seems weird to me. If you require core hours, then yes, people should be signed in those core hours. Sounds like that's what the employee did.

If the requirement is to complete 4 Xs per hour, then he should have completed those Xs right? The fact that he only did 4Xs all day is a problem. Whether he's at home, or at work, but your husband can monitor how many Xs were completed virtually so what's the problem? Just tell him Dude, you needed to complete 16 Xs today and you only did 4xs - do bettter.

[Anonymous]

People can scroll on their phone while moving the mouse every now and then. They can also do that in the office. Ask me how I know.

[Anonymous]

People can zone out and stare at a blank screen in the office just as easily as they can at home. In general my company trusts that professionals are getting their billable hours in or otherwise it will show. My boss has even said he doesn't care when you work as long as you are making yourself available from 10 to 3.

Also, please never log into personal websites from work computers. If you log into your bank or personal email for example, you are potentially exposing your username and password to someone in your IT department and potentially making that computer (which doesn't belong to you) a trusted device.