The Jiggle Is Up: Bosses Bust Workers Who Fake Computer Activity

[DrQ]

The Jiggle Is Up: Bosses Bust Workers Who Fake Computer Activity​

Companies’ productivity-tracking tools are getting more sophisticated in detecting when remote workers are pretending they’re busy​

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/workplace/the-jiggle-is-up-bosses-bust-workers-who-fake-computer-activity-b6374f22

 

[jp10558]

I can't read the WSJ easily (I haven't worked through the hoops from my work to get free access and I'm not paying lol) so I can only go by the title. These tools are stupid, and really unnecessary. Bosses should not worry how much you move a mouse around or not - they should worry about getting the work product done. This should require no spying at all really - is the task completed or not? If not, is it outside the employees control, or are they just not getting work done? That's it.

Whatever you're going to track as metrics *will* be gamed. Mouse jigglers are the lowest tech "solution". I can think of other stuff that's not all that hard to do that'll be more complex, especially with some of the AI stuff now - I could imagine scripting something to "work on writing a word doc / email / proposal for hours" with a physical IPKVM that operates the "physical mouse and keyboard and screen" and loops to Chat GPT for instance.

 

[PigsDad]

I couldn't agree more, @jp10558. Managers who resort to relying on these stupid employee-monitoring tools are simply lazy. If a manager cannot figure out whether or not their employees are working and meeting their goals, then it is the manager who should be replaced, IMO.

Kurt

 

[chapjim]

When Covid started, I was a federal government contractor working on security assistance programs at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency in Arlington, VA.

We had a highly UNsophisticated way of tracking productivity. The division head, a USG employee and retired USMC Colonel, required an email from each person at the beginning of the day saying what work we intended to accomplish and another email at the end of the day saying what we actually did. They didn't necessarily have to match.

I have no idea what the division head did with those emails. I'm sure he kind of knew who the no-loads were and maybe tracked them more closely. I never was questioned about what I did or didn't do with my time, even while teleworking from home, Williamsburg, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Pompano Beach, Panama City Beach, and elsewhere.

 

[jp10558]

When Covid started, I was a federal government contractor working on security assistance programs at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency in Arlington, VA.

We had a highly UNsophisticated way of tracking productivity. The division head, a USG employee and retired USMC Colonel, required an email from each person at the beginning of the day saying what work we intended to accomplish and another email at the end of the day saying what we actually did. They didn't necessarily have to match.

I have no idea what the division head did with those emails. I'm sure he kind of knew who the no-loads were and maybe tracked them more closely. I never was questioned about what I did or didn't do with my time, even while teleworking from home, Williamsburg, Myrtle Beach, Orlando, Pompano Beach, Panama City Beach, and elsewhere.

You know - this is a brilliant method if the management doesn't have any idea what's going on or what people are working on / ought to be doing. You can quickly get up to speed as to what the workers think they're supposed to be doing, it gives you lots of opportunities to give direction if you disagree on what they're doing, and then you can also see how realistic their daily assessments are... You could then inform them for future planning etc...

 

[Elan]

IME, most management is lazy. They don't want to dive in and figure out what's going on, who's doing what or where any of their employees are in their lives.
At my former company they had an annual "engagement survey". Basically the same set of inane questions sent out every year. They did it this way because it was easy to benchmark year to year changes, in spite of endless feedback on how poor the survey was at actually identifying anything meaningful. Got so bad that people stopped participating. So much for engagement...
Furthermore, many larger corporations have moved to canned productivity management software, that forces mid-level management to spend more time completing required forms, than actually managing their people. All in the name of making things easier for lazy upper management.

 

[joestein]

As of July 1, we have an app on our phones that track where we are. I dont know if it really works, but if I need to run an errand when working remote - I run the errand.

We are supposed to say if we are working remote or in the office on the app each day. Supposedly you are automatically logged as 'in the office' once you connect to the office wifi.

I forget to tell the app where I am on most days. This post just reminded me to put in that I am on vacation today. I dont think the app can tell if you are actually working though.

My direct report is the CFO, I don't think he is worried that I am not getting my work done. I have a great track record. I probably require less of his time than any other of his direct reports, maybe 5 or 10 minutes a week on average, which frees him up for other stuff. He spends more time trying to bust my chops than any other interaction with him.

 

[joestein]

IME, most management is lazy. They don't want to dive in and figure out what's going on, who's doing what or where any of their employees are in their lives.
At my former company they had an annual "engagement survey". Basically the same set of inane questions sent out every year. They did it this way because it was easy to benchmark year to year changes, in spite of endless feedback on how poor the survey was at actually identifying anything meaningful. Got so bad that people stopped participating. So much for engagement...
Furthermore, many larger corporations have moved to canned productivity management software, that forces mid-level management to spend time completing required forms, than actually managing their people. All in the name of making things easier for lazy upper management.

I feel that mgmt has evolved over time. Mgmt doesn't really manage workers anymore. They simply parcel out the work they need done to support their work. At least that is experience that myself, my wife and my friends have. But we are all white collar. Maybe different for blue collar.

For example... I am the controller of various investment funds. I have staff and managers below me. Each quarter I put together a schedule with which quarterly report for which fund each person should be working on each day and when it is due to be given to the person above them. Ultimately all these reports have to get to me for review. I need to schedule the work so that I get the 18 quarterly reports spaced out in a way that I can review them without having a bunch pile up.

But other than reviewing the report when I get it, I am not involved with them for this process. They work by themselves and as long as the work is timely and correct, I dont interact with them that much. I really only let the manager how the report was (usually great) or if I am having some trouble figuring how they came up with a number or some information.

 

[Elan]

I feel that mgmt has evolved over time. Mgmt doesn't really manage workers anymore. They simply parcel out the work they need done to support their work. At least that is experience that myself, my wife and my friends have. But we are all white collar. Maybe different for blue collar.

For example... I am the controller of various investment funds. I have staff and managers below me. Each quarter I put together a schedule with which quarterly report for which fund each person should be working on each day and when it is due to be given to the person above them. Ultimately all these reports have to get to me for review. I need to schedule the work so that I get the 18 quarterly reports spaced out in a way that I can review them without having a bunch pile up.

But other than reviewing the report when I get it, I am not involved with them for this process. They work by themselves and as long as the work is timely and correct, I dont interact with them that much. I really only let the manager how the report was (usually great) or if I am having some trouble figuring how they came up with a number or some information.

Yeah, I think our experiences are a bit different. I worked for a cutting edge semiconductor company for 35 years. Design teams were typically 20-30 strong, with each person owning a set of circuits or other project specific tasks. Everything had to work in sync to meet very aggressive deadlines. There was a project manager that managed the due dates of the micro tasks and the overall project. So, we all knew what we needed to get done and by when via a regularly published and reviewed schedule. IMO, if I wanted to spend all day everyday staring out the window, that should be my prerogative. If I don't meet my deadlines, fire me. Don't impose this canned BS productivity software where we have to detail our goals and accomplishments on a repetitive basis. There were spans where I might try a new approach only to determine that it didn't work or wasn't any better than what we currently had. So, did I really not accomplish anything that week? What am I supposed to write down? I had to submit something weekly, but because management wasn't involved enough, it did look like I wasn't doing anything to anyone looking from above.

I'm a firm believer that it's not that difficult to be a good manager. Is it time consuming and frustrating at times? Absolutely. But managers are getting compensated to deal with that. If one doesn't want to do it, go back to the engineering/technical side.