We had a bad manager at my last company who really wanted to do this sort of thing. I said to him “So this is an interesting proposal... if we install this software then I can save on management costs by replacing your position with this spyware?” He never brought it up again and we later just got rid of him completely. Micromanagement and this sort of spying rarely builds high performing teams. Managing worker produ…
Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
41–50 of 359 posts
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#42Two things: Productivity is going to plunge no matter what, with the possible exception of singles who don’t have roommates. There is no way that during an ad hoc and unorganized push to work remote (though necessary in this circumstance) can result in good productivity, monitoring or not. Under the best of circumstances it would take months for a mass of people to adjust and be productive. The apex for open office d…
And those who were already working remote. I do, and I've actually found it easier at meetings, where I'm not the only one on the screen anymore.
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it? What kind of crime would it fall under, and where is that?
Norwegian privacy law.
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#44Two things: Productivity is going to plunge no matter what, with the possible exception of singles who don’t have roommates. There is no way that during an ad hoc and unorganized push to work remote (though necessary in this circumstance) can result in good productivity, monitoring or not. Under the best of circumstances it would take months for a mass of people to adjust and be productive. The apex for open office d…
I'm surprised cubicles get so much hate. I loved mine at my first job. Oodles of desk space. Locking drawers and cabinets. There was a chair in the corner so a guest could sit. Made it easy to have 2 meetings without disturbing people. less aesthetically pleasing in office photographs, but overall a much better work environment than any open plan I've experienced.
I forget where I saw this but there was a company that had set up what were basically "team offices" so teams that worked closely together each had their own closed room where they worked, so they could collaborate in their own manner.
Quiet when they needed it, loud when they needed it, and on their own schedule.
That seems like a good middle.
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#45Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#46Two things: Productivity is going to plunge no matter what, with the possible exception of singles who don’t have roommates. There is no way that during an ad hoc and unorganized push to work remote (though necessary in this circumstance) can result in good productivity, monitoring or not. Under the best of circumstances it would take months for a mass of people to adjust and be productive. The apex for open office d…
I'm surprised cubicles get so much hate. I loved mine at my first job. Oodles of desk space. Locking drawers and cabinets. There was a chair in the corner so a guest could sit. Made it easy to have 2 meetings without disturbing people. less aesthetically pleasing in office photographs, but overall a much better work environment than any open plan I've experienced.
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#47Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#48Two things: Productivity is going to plunge no matter what, with the possible exception of singles who don’t have roommates. There is no way that during an ad hoc and unorganized push to work remote (though necessary in this circumstance) can result in good productivity, monitoring or not. Under the best of circumstances it would take months for a mass of people to adjust and be productive. The apex for open office d…
I'm surprised cubicles get so much hate. I loved mine at my first job. Oodles of desk space. Locking drawers and cabinets. There was a chair in the corner so a guest could sit. Made it easy to have 2 meetings without disturbing people. less aesthetically pleasing in office photographs, but overall a much better work environment than any open plan I've experienced.
I've been living in cities and I think that is a big factor. Real estate is expensive. But make no mistake, open workspaces are miserable places. Cubicles still suck, but they're a massive step up from open floor plans.
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#49Workers are there to do a job, not have every personal detail monitored and tracked. Should the show password feature be turned off in UIs given how much sensitive information shows up on a screen? How much control of people's lives can a free society hand over to shareholders before it's no longer considered humane?
Re: Bosses panic-buy spy software to keep tabs on remote workers
#50This happened to me years ago. I was put in an empty office at the opposite end from my boss, and because he couldn't walk up behind me to see me working, he secretly installed a program on my computer that took a screenshot every 30 seconds (or so?). I quickly noticed that my computer was hitching regularly (when the screenshot was taken - this was in the late 90s BTW), and so investigated my computer on a day when…
Where I live what he did is a fairly serious criminal offence.