Tamara Sanderson’s Post

FYI. If my keyboard clicks are down, and my mouse stops moving (whispers)… it’s because I’m brainstorming and writing notes on real-life paper. 📝 ✍️ With that said, I do not believe in managing people so closely that they can’t breathe. It’s a waste of time and a total time suck for both of us. Or rather, *I* don’t enjoy being managed to the microscopic level… 😏. In a former role, I watched a supervisor screen capture and “talk to them” because they were on break for 15 mins and 16 seconds. And those — 16 seconds were spent trying to update their status. And so, where is the balance between letting people *do* their jobs and hovering? Maybe it lies in their performance, outcomes and deliverables.

OMG this is so true Tamara Sanderson, I have been a firsthand witness to this type of "micro-management" behavior. I guess the saying is true..."Those who Can...Lead; those who can Not...micro-manage". This type of management/leadership style is only going to continue to drive away great employees (especially this new generation entering the workforce, they are going to have no parts of this). Unnecessary phone calls to your team to see if they will answer is also not a good tactic to use because they could be on a "bio break", then the manager might hold it against them, as not being accessible (believe me, happened to me twice and was reprimanded for it)! 🤦♀️ A great place to start in addressing some of these issues and many more with management/leadership, is to provide them with some leadership development courses...not just timekeeping/scheduling and payroll, but real meaningful courses that will help them be more vulnerable, transparent, and empathetic with their staff, and lead from a place of courage and not manipulation and fearmongering.

Respectfully, I strongly disagree. You stated: “Productivity is NOT... - the number of clicks on your computer screen - the number of hours sitting in front of your computer screen - the number of meetings you attend - the number of emails you send.” Not on its own, but combined with a few other measures, I would suspect the broad collection of indicators I would be highly correlated to the amount of output. This could be easily tested, do you have any hard data to suggest otherwise? No one wants to believe they are on an assembly line, stamping out widgets, but output is the end game. Output is money. You’ve met and worked with them, they always look busy, but they never get anything done. Closers on the other hand, get the work done, the litmus paper of effectiveness is the completion of the many subprojects along the way. Spreadsheets, meetings, documents completed emails sent. Closers minimise but they crank it out. Like it or not I believe a broad range of key indicators will be a good indicator of productivity. Spying No, but a thoughtful broad range of measures including, the most important: the timely successful completion of task.

Some people can work at home and independently while others cannot. All this proves is that many top performers are wasting the time at the office while they could accomplish their jobs in less time while others cannot. The “managers” who are surveiling them, in my opinion (52 years in the recruiting and search business, helped build 3 companies in which I had a stake and founded 5-6 others which we ran for awhile and either determined to market was wrong; the timing was wrong or the partners were wrong and we parted ways) those managers are not competent to do their job or the company is poorly run. They are demonstrating no trust in their people or not fostering any loyalty because those parties are not likely getting any of the action, no stake in the business. I have no employees only partners. If the people have no voice in their job and how it’s performed; don’t share in the cash flow of the business; no prospect of ownership participation for exceptional performance and contribution to the business; you will have difficulty hiring the best people and turnover will be an issue forever.

What all this boils down to is Work Ethic! In all my years in Banking (More than I want to count) I have worked with individuals that came in, got their work done & did what they were hired to do, however I have also encountered people that simply came to work and spent their day “Looking Busy” not accomplishing much of anything. The latter is the reason why companies are implementing such tactics. I have always been a firm believer in doing what you are being paid to do and if you have down time use that time to get organized, brainstorm ways to be more efficient or help other coworkers that need assistance. Time is money & if we want to keep jobs we need to help the companies we work for remain profitable.

I suppose the nature of the job in question would and should affect the level of surveillance, if any. As a writer and editor, there may be a substantial amount of keyboard inactivity as reading, research, editing, and experimentation that take up a substantial amount of time without actual keys being struck. I suppose as one who has worked remotely for 10 years, I am cognizant of this and take steps to ensure there are no negative consequences. My secret is and always has been overcommunication and I'll leave it at that. If, for example, I had to go and pick up a child or had a contractor in house, I made sure it was known in advance especially if meeting attendance was affected. I understand the concerns on both sides of the issue but the level of trust between parties can still be challenged or redefined based on what the level of expectations are for said job. I think back to recent experiences working in very large buildings where even a coffee break or restroom visit would take 20 mins or more including "navigation time". IMO, expectations for remote work should be reasonable (especially with connection issues) and expressed in advance especially if the work is non-traditional or outcome - based.

I cannot help but think the need for more great articles like this one arises directly from what some have called "the financialization of everything." When companies focused on the quality of their products and the happiness of their customers and workers, "productivity" rarely arose as a problem or source of punishment. But when all some decision-makers care about is comparing this quarter's financial results to last quarter's, or worrying about making next quarter's numbers, well...sigh...

Having been a remote employee for years before the pandemic, I can say that good leaders know results matter. The right OKR and KPI are what matters, if your teams can deliver on time, in budget with high level client satisfaction, Who cares how many clicks, meetings or other tactical tasks they complete. Give them a bonus for “Promise Small and Deliver Big” . It you hired them trust them or else you don’t have a lot of trust in your own hiring.

Also, absolute reliance on reports that may not be accurately reflecting what an employee did. I recently had an experience where (coincidence that this happened immediately after I requested accommodations) I was told I was looking at documents too slow. I knew approx how many docs I had looked at the day before and the math didn’t work. I questioned how I could be at 16 docs/ hr when I knew I had looked at over 300 docs the day before and billed for 9 hrs. I was afraid that someone was simply pulling # of docs/ time in program instead of # of docs/ time billed. Because these programs require at minimum 2 factor authentication and I am working at home alone and have a screen lock I don’t waste the time it would take to log all the way out & back in every time I stretch, get a drink, bio break, etc. I use a start/stop timer on my desktop; when I get up to stretch I stop the timer, sit back down and restart it. The reply I got was that it was monitored in real time. The next day the team was “slimmed down” by 1 person. Their loss. I’m a very good employee but I’m not going to be uncomfortable just to try to look good on a report. I wouldn’t do that in an on-site office, why would I do it remotely?

This trend of heightened worker surveillance is contrary to a trend in worker values - personal/professional life balance is increasingly more desirable than being a “company man.” I’ve observed the benefits of no longer requiring time ledgers, companies being transparent about performance metrics, and an emphasis on productivity over presence. When employees understand how they will be assessed, they focus their performance to inflate those metrics. Tamara Sanderson , have you any other insights?