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Monitoring Working From Home

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Badger11 Flag Beckenham 05 Nov 21 10.11am Send a Private Message to Badger11 Add Badger11 as a friend

I saw this

[Link]


It does sounds excessive / spying and unnecessary.

When I worked about 15 years ago we had a portal on our home computers that linked us to their office.

As part of the software the staff had 3 options:

1. Not working / Not logged in (Off switch)
2. Working
3. Taking a break


Our boss could not access our home cameras or home compute etc. However he knew who was working, if you logged in and then went out for the day the software would report no keyboard activity so you would have to explain yourself.

Anyway he had metrics but was not able to spy on what exactly you were doing.

As I am retired I wonder what others people's experiences of being managed from home are like.

 


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Dubai Eagle Flag 05 Nov 21 10.27am Send a Private Message to Dubai Eagle Add Dubai Eagle as a friend

There was a guy on linked in the other day complaining that when working from home he had to keep his webcam on so that the company knew he was actually working.

I have always taken the view if you have to monitor someone that closely either you have the wrong employee or there is something wrong with your own trust levels.

Originally posted by Badger11

I saw this

[Link]


It does sounds excessive / spying and unnecessary.

When I worked about 15 years ago we had a portal on our home computers that linked us to their office.

As part of the software the staff had 3 options:

1. Not working / Not logged in (Off switch)
2. Working
3. Taking a break


Our boss could not access our home cameras or home compute etc. However he knew who was working, if you logged in and then went out for the day the software would report no keyboard activity so you would have to explain yourself.

Anyway he had metrics but was not able to spy on what exactly you were doing.

As I am retired I wonder what others people's experiences of being managed from home are like.

 

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Badger11 Flag Beckenham 05 Nov 21 12.35pm Send a Private Message to Badger11 Add Badger11 as a friend

Originally posted by Dubai Eagle

There was a guy on linked in the other day complaining that when working from home he had to keep his webcam on so that the company knew he was actually working.

I have always taken the view if you have to monitor someone that closely either you have the wrong employee or there is something wrong with your own trust levels.


Agreed that is far too intrusive something like I outlined should respect employee privacy and allow the boss to manage.

As regards trust I would say to any boss why punish your good staff for the odd bad employee that is bad management deal with the shirkers but give some slack to the workers.

 


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Palace Old Geezer Flag Midhurst 05 Nov 21 1.27pm Send a Private Message to Palace Old Geezer Add Palace Old Geezer as a friend

Blimey. I must say this level of monitoring does look over the top. Mind you, I'm certain some folk do take liberties with this whole WFH thing, so not surprised there's a certain amount of checking going on.

I retired in 2007, and for the last few years I worked from home a fair bit, mainly because I had a commute of 100 miles to the office. Thing is, there weren't sophisticated systems in place and it was very easy to take time out. No-one was bothered as long as the job got done.

 


Dad and I watched games standing on the muddy slope of the Holmesdale Road end. He cheered and I rattled.

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Badger11 Flag Beckenham 05 Nov 21 1.36pm Send a Private Message to Badger11 Add Badger11 as a friend

Originally posted by Palace Old Geezer

Blimey. I must say this level of monitoring does look over the top. Mind you, I'm certain some folk do take liberties with this whole WFH thing, so not surprised there's a certain amount of checking going on.

I retired in 2007, and for the last few years I worked from home a fair bit, mainly because I had a commute of 100 miles to the office. Thing is, there weren't sophisticated systems in place and it was very easy to take time out. No-one was bothered as long as the job got done.

My last boss was very like that he was fine with people taking time off for family stuff e.g. doctors appointments school sports day etc. In return the staff worked harder for him and made up the time elsewhere.

So if you employ bad and lazy staff that is on the management and the recruitment policy. If you treat people like adults they generally respond in kind and if the odd one doesn't deal with them don't make the rest suffer.

 


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Teddy Eagle Flag 05 Nov 21 1.51pm Send a Private Message to Teddy Eagle Add Teddy Eagle as a friend


My wife has been working from home since last spring and the incidence of stress related problems among staff has increased significantly. Apart from people working longer hours and feeling isolated there is a fear that redundancies are likely once the effects of remote working have been assessed.

 

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Forest Hillbilly Flag in a hidey-hole 05 Nov 21 6.11pm Send a Private Message to Forest Hillbilly Add Forest Hillbilly as a friend

When I've had office bosses (from 1990's to 2006), they seemed to operate the policy of "If the job gets done on time, and the client is happy, arrange your own timetable to suit".
So before vehicle tracking, the company vans got taken to the golf course, to the airport, and a memorable ferry trip for a booze cruise.
My experience, is that if your boss treats you fairly, there is no need to take the pl55.
When unreasonable demands are made of employees, there is far more likelihood of time/stuff going missing.
I did have one boss who said he was going to monitor train arrivals in internet, to disprove any "train was late" excuses. That never materialised.
So I think I've been quite fortunate, up to the point I went self-employed.
I don't think I could ever monitor an employees behaviour and use of work-time in such an intrusive manner. It just exposes shortfalls in proper management, rather than unscrupulous workers.

Edited by Forest Hillbilly (05 Nov 2021 6.13pm)

 


I disengage, I turn the page.

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BlueJay Flag UK 06 Nov 21 6.20am

I would've thought this must break certain data protection laws. It's all thing monitoring work, another basically spying on someone 24/7.

 

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YT Flag Oxford 06 Nov 21 7.33am Send a Private Message to YT Add YT as a friend

Originally posted by BlueJay

I would've thought this must break certain data protection laws. It's all thing monitoring work, another basically spying on someone 24/7.

Why?

 


Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

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Forest Hillbilly Flag in a hidey-hole 06 Nov 21 8.06am Send a Private Message to Forest Hillbilly Add Forest Hillbilly as a friend

YOU !! yes you !! stop looking at the internet, and get back to work.

 


I disengage, I turn the page.

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Badger11 Flag Beckenham 06 Nov 21 8.26am Send a Private Message to Badger11 Add Badger11 as a friend

Originally posted by BlueJay

I would've thought this must break certain data protection laws. It's all thing monitoring work, another basically spying on someone 24/7.

Agreed I don't see why the boss has the right to use your webcam or search your PC. There are other ways of checking up on your staff. The tool I mentioned was like a calendar so at a glance the boss would know which staff are sick / holiday who was in the office and who was working from home.

 


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YT Flag Oxford 06 Nov 21 9.03am Send a Private Message to YT Add YT as a friend

My daughter's boyfriend has been WFH since day 1 of the first lockdown. In that time he has set up his own business and he now spends more of his "working" day on his business than on his job.

He says that provided he has his work laptop somewhere nearby while he's doing the private stuff, he can juggle the situation with ease. He said the trick is to reply promptly to those emails that matter and ignore those that don't. Apart from those video calls that you have to be on camera for, the rest - conference calls, presentations etc - you can merely have on in the background so as to keep an eye (or an ear) on them. Most of them are pointless anyway; usually about 'inclusion and diversity' or 'a greener future'.

 


Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

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