Since companies pay theiremployeeswages, in return, they feel entitled to make every penny count. This means ensuring workers spend their time productively instead of dealing with personal matters, especially now that more and more work is happening electronically and remotely.
When this new manager joined the teamredditor u/Marinaisgoworked at, she immediately became suspicious of theirworkoutside the office. They innocently offered a solution to squash her doubts, which she later came to regret.
Scroll down to find the full story and a conversation with its author and Jessica D. Winder, HR executive and founder ofHidden Gem Career Coaching, who kindly agreed to answer a few of our questions.
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Since companies invest a lot of money in employees, they have to make sure that workers are using their time to their benefit
Image credits:Artem Podrez / Pexels (not the actual photo)
This new manager even used a tracker app that informed her when an employee finished a task
Image credits:Elina Fairytale / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Pavel Danilyuk / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits:Marinaisgo
“Micromanaging only makes people sneaky and paranoid”
The author of the story tellsBored Pandathat they felt inspired to share the story after several years because they’d read a similar one on the subreddit that reminded them of their own experience.
When asked what was the turning point in the relationship between them and their manager, they told us, “This was the turning point, actually. When she asked me to turn off the notifications, I made a joke like, “But how will you know I’m working???” And she apologized for making the assumption that I wasn’t going to do my job.
Then, we kept ending up in situations where it was obvious that we really cared and invested a lot in our work, while other people either didn’t want to or couldn’t keep up with us. We also bonded over having similar worldviews, and common interests,” they fondly shared.
Image credits:cottonbro studio / Pexels (not the actual photo)
Jessica D. Winder, HR executive and founder ofHidden Gem Career Coaching, says that the reason companies monitor employee activity is because they believe they need to play Big Brother and make sure people are actually working and not just binge-watching Netflix.
However, the worker performance monitoring that more and more firms are trying to put in place might be justified. Study after study shows thatworkersare spending less time on their actual job tasks. In 2016, researchers found that less than half of a workday is dedicated to productive work.
Even those who look busy and overwhelmed aren’t always producing actual work. Software company Slack found in 2023 that globally, 32% of employees appear to be occupied instead of completing productive work. This ‘phenomenon’ has its own term: performative work, and is the highest mostly in Asian countries, with India in the number one place.
Image credits:nappy / Pexels (not the actual photo)
“There is an opportunity for companies to explore new and different ways of working”
Instead of monitoring their activity, most surveyed workers want to be assessed through key performance indicators, conversations with their managers, and the hours spent on specific types of work. “There is an opportunity for companies to explore new and different ways of working, such as … adopting asynchronous ways of working rather than meetings, to facilitate more effective collaboration at work,” Laney said.
According toMiro, a digital collaboration platform, 42% of employees are in favor of asynchronous work, which was very prevalent during the pandemic. Such work ethic allows employees to complete tasks without having to be in the same place at the same time, saving time from fruitless meetings.
To maintain or improve performance and job satisfaction without having to monitor employees’ activity Winder suggests trusting the people. “Set clear goals, give regular feedback, and create a work environment that doesn’t feel like a prison. Focus on what people actually achieve, not how many hours they’re logged in. And remember, a happy team is a productive team. Let folks balance their work and life – they’ll thank you with better work and fewer “technical issues” duringZoom calls.”
Thanks! Check out the results:Gabija Saveiskyte
Indrė Lukošiūtė
Justinas Keturka
Work & Money
