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Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

wsj.com

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Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#61

Post by throwaway789394 »

mrbgty wrote: post #32
benjohnson wrote: post #17

As a company owner, I've resisted the temptation to do this. We did make it easy for our employees to behave themselves by making it very easy to 'clock in' and 'clock out.' I told everybody that this is a time to be close to family - if your child wants to play ball in the middle of the day, then go ahead! Just clock out before you do. Get your 8 hours in and document your work. Thankfully everybody has responded we…

Good to hear that you care about your employees and understand that he likes the chats. Generally, IMO, you shouldn't be hiring people and then checking up on them and their hours to keep them honest. There's better uses of time. That time spent tracking and keeping them honest doesn't really improve you, them or the company.

Generally yes. But if he has adhd then far away timelines may be less useful than focusing on weekly deliverables. Could very well be a win-win. Good job parent!

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#63

Post by spodek »

Hamuko wrote: post #41

This makes me really glad that our company policy thus far has been giving employees new machines and have them set them up themselves. I know my work laptop has no spyware because I didn't install any.

That's what they want you to think.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#64

Post by jdavis703 »

dkersten wrote: post #23
benjohnson wrote: post #17

As a company owner, I've resisted the temptation to do this. We did make it easy for our employees to behave themselves by making it very easy to 'clock in' and 'clock out.' I told everybody that this is a time to be close to family - if your child wants to play ball in the middle of the day, then go ahead! Just clock out before you do. Get your 8 hours in and document your work. Thankfully everybody has responded we…

Why is it tied to time, instead of deliverables? I mean, if I work extra hard to get the days work done in 4 hours, why can’t I leave early compared to a co-worker who is working less focused and more slowly? I get that it’s not easy to set good milestones, and to keep it fair in terms of making sure everyone has approximately equal work, but I feel the same problems exist with required work “time” especially since i…

Some companies also have to bill their customers by the hour. For example certain government contracts, grants and even private contracting are paid out based on hours worked.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#65

Post by sharkweek »

dkersten wrote: post #23
benjohnson wrote: post #17

As a company owner, I've resisted the temptation to do this. We did make it easy for our employees to behave themselves by making it very easy to 'clock in' and 'clock out.' I told everybody that this is a time to be close to family - if your child wants to play ball in the middle of the day, then go ahead! Just clock out before you do. Get your 8 hours in and document your work. Thankfully everybody has responded we…

Why is it tied to time, instead of deliverables? I mean, if I work extra hard to get the days work done in 4 hours, why can’t I leave early compared to a co-worker who is working less focused and more slowly? I get that it’s not easy to set good milestones, and to keep it fair in terms of making sure everyone has approximately equal work, but I feel the same problems exist with required work “time” especially since i…

I worked for a startup where the founder/CEO mandated 40 hours of work a week, no more or less.

He would always say “I want you to work your ass off while you’re here but I also don’t want you taking this home with you. The company is paying you for forty hours of your time a week.”

The expectation, which everyone seemed to find fair enough, was that if you didn’t have enough to fill 40 hours that you find other projects to help with or tinker with new ideas.

Honestly it was a great culture and they had a sizable acquisition exit so I guess it worked even as the company got north of 600ish employees by the time they were bought.

Was everyone honest about it? No of course not, but enough were that people bought in.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#67

Post by Hamuko »

spodek wrote: post #63
Hamuko wrote: post #41

This makes me really glad that our company policy thus far has been giving employees new machines and have them set them up themselves. I know my work laptop has no spyware because I didn't install any.

That's what they want you to think.

It still had the original Apple plastic wrap on it.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#68

Post by whitehouse3 »

askafriend wrote: post #46

I would quit the moment I found out something like this was being instituted. I think most companies that need to hire top talent know that these kinds of things drive away talent. So these practices tend to be relegated to a lower tier of companies/employers.

Conversely, those employers can’t hire top-tier people. The ones they do hire probably don’t have the FU money to walk away from spyware like this. So they live with it instead.

This is truer in a recession. And the effect can justify calls to unionize.

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#69

Post by eikenberry »

dkersten wrote: post #23
benjohnson wrote: post #17

As a company owner, I've resisted the temptation to do this. We did make it easy for our employees to behave themselves by making it very easy to 'clock in' and 'clock out.' I told everybody that this is a time to be close to family - if your child wants to play ball in the middle of the day, then go ahead! Just clock out before you do. Get your 8 hours in and document your work. Thankfully everybody has responded we…

Why is it tied to time, instead of deliverables? I mean, if I work extra hard to get the days work done in 4 hours, why can’t I leave early compared to a co-worker who is working less focused and more slowly? I get that it’s not easy to set good milestones, and to keep it fair in terms of making sure everyone has approximately equal work, but I feel the same problems exist with required work “time” especially since i…

Quite possibly the work is time base, not delivery based. Eg. A call center employees might need to be on-call (time) even if there are no active calls (deliverables).

Re: Employers who use software to take screenshots of workers’ computers

#70

Post by reaperducer »

Hamuko wrote: post #41

This makes me really glad that our company policy thus far has been giving employees new machines and have them set them up themselves. I know my work laptop has no spyware because I didn't install any.

I guessed my company's admin password and erased their partition.

If I get laid off (they're cutting 20% of the workforce next week), then I consider the computer my severance pay.

If they press the issue, they can come to my house and collect the machine. But I'll lick every part of it before I hand it over.

Childish? Oh, heck yeah. But when I see my own company screwing over its employees and customers to protect the CEO's pay (none of the C-levels took a cut), I just don't care.

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