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“I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

bbc.co.uk

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Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#4

Post by kjakm »

I've experienced this kind of software working on an hourly contract via UpWork. It would take screenshots at random points in 10 minute intervals, and would track number of mouse clicks/key presses. I think everything was logged officially at the end of the day so if you happened to be on a personal site during the screenshot you could delete it and you'd lose those 10 minutes from the total number of hours you had logged. Honestly, I didn't mind it - but I was getting paid really well for the job and I'm not sure the client ever bothered checking the logs (it was just the system UpWork made you use to guarantee payment so there was also some benefit for me). In that specific use case, especially because it helped guarantee my payments (if the you hours using the software it's very difficult for the client to dispute those), it didn't feel as dystopian as it sounds. If my current employer (full-time, salary) started using something like this I think I'd feel very differently about it.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#5

Post by zenincognito »

I once went to court against a client who wouldn't pay his bills. The sum more than 35K. It took over 9 months to get to court ( as the court wouldnt give a date ) and countless docs and hours spent to come up with evidence folder. In Australia, a citizen can argue their case which I did without using any lawyers.

Finally, we both argued our case to a point where the client's defence was that there was no time log for the work that I had done. I pointed out that the contract stipulates performing of tasks and is not contingent on time spent. The judge laughed and ruled in my favor because he was fully onboard the argument that it doesn't matter ,legally speaking, how much time I was at the computer but matters that the task promised were delivered with high quality. The funny thing is that the client agreed that he has seen positive returns but felt overcharged. The judge on hearing this reprimanded him for wasting everyone's time and awarded costs and interests.

Pay for work not time spent on the computer.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#7

Post by renewiltord »

kjakm wrote: post #4

I've experienced this kind of software working on an hourly contract via UpWork. It would take screenshots at random points in 10 minute intervals, and would track number of mouse clicks/key presses. I think everything was logged officially at the end of the day so if you happened to be on a personal site during the screenshot you could delete it and you'd lose those 10 minutes from the total number of hours you had…

I never do that on Upwork (always allow manual tracking) but I also liberally end contracts if things don't go fast. Might as well eat the loss. Don't have time to go looking through screenshots. But I wonder sometimes if its worth it to force auto-tracking just maybe for the upworker's sake (like it keeps them on a task they'd want to do but are having trouble sticking to).

But that's low-end stuff. For mid-end stuff it's all milestone-based anyway.

For way high-end stuff I don't care except that thing gets done and then I need high quality contractor who keeps me up to date. If he can't communicate and I start getting anxiety about the outcome, he's got to go.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#8

Post by helsinkiandrew »

I used to work at a bank whose homeworking remote login system would timeout after a ridiculously short period. The solution (used by many, and widely publicised around the company) was to place an optical mouse over the face of a clock whose movement would trigger a tiny movement every so often and keep you logged in.

I'm sure the remote staff at his company have worked out how to browse facebook and instagram on their phones whilst hitting the down key on their keyboard with the other hand.

Re: “I monitor my staff with software that takes screenshots”

#9

Post by shakna »

> For the last year and a half he has used Hubstaff software to track his workers' hours, keystrokes, mouse movements and websites visited.

So much more than just screenshots.

Whilst the CEO in this case seems to be fairly flexible, and says he doesn't mind if people are taking a break here and there, this kind of... Someone staring over your shoulder, albeit electronically, probably wouldn't work for me, and by inference, others. It can increase stress, and cause the opposite of increased productivity, if your assumptions about how your workers work isn't correct. You can only have lax barriers if everyone falls within them.

Most of my time with code is not spent typing. Probably about half is spent reading, and most of the rest is spent thinking. I generally do not start typing until I've already got most of the structure worked out in my head, and usually with incomprehensible diagrams (to everyone else) written on paper beside my computer.

If you set up what seems proportionate at first, something like logging if I haven't touched my keyboard in twenty minutes, then you'll be flagging me as unproductive all day long. But if you compare it to tickets closed, you won't see me at all - I'd fit within the average for bugs fixed and features implemented.

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Addendum: It may also be pointless logging my mouse movements - I used to generate heatmaps for those. Until I realised that I move the mouse only a few times a day. Wasn't on purpose, but I tend to use the keyboard almost exclusively, since I started to lose my eyesight.

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