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Seems so many managers just can't manage. If they can't watch you at your desk at work, they want the camera on to watch you at your desk at home. What they really need to be doing is managing work. They assign tasks and due dates, then manage the results and quality. Seems most managers just don't know how to do that, at the office or at home. Had a "round and round" discussion with another manager the other day who couldn't grasp the concept of breaking the work down into manageable packages, then assigning those packages with due dates, then tracking the completion and cost of those packages. To him every project was just one big task and he was constantly assigning bits and pieces to whomever was closest when he got to that piece. Yet he continued to wonder why his projects were often late and over budget.
If you can't manage work in the office, you can't manage at home. Watching people on the screen won't fix the inability to manage work.
Right! Well, this will be the very first time I've had a job where the camera's going to be on at all times, so we'll see how it goes. It might not be as bad as I think...I hope!
I think that's the thing. People at home may not be doing any less work than in the office.. it's just that it's more visible if they're doing laundry or their dishes, helping their kids with homework, running to the grocery store, etc. rather than going to the bathroom, chatting with coworkers, on their phones, or in some other way pretending to work while not really doing so (working slowly, appearing to type away productively while emailing a friend, whatever).
The real question is... is their work still getting done at the same rate? I would say I'm equally productive from work or home; it just feels less so from home because at work if the day is slow I still feel more "on the clock" since I'm in their space even if I'm not actually getting more done.
I admit, though, that I can still separate "work" and "real life." "Getting out of work" on work-from-home days may just involve logging off the work computer and getting up from my chair, but when my quitting time arrives, I'm done. I don't log back on later any more than I would if my computer was at the office. Mind you, I'm not necessarily expected to. But while I have coworkers who say they'll log on late at night, take their computer to medical appointments, etc... I don't. And I try not to feel guilty for not doing so. Almost nothing we do is that important that it can't wait until tomorrow. Doesn't mean I don't stay late/log back on if there IS something really important, but there almost never is. I do paperwork, not ER trauma surgery (and many things people say they need "right away" is because they procrastinated on doing them, so I'm not in an especial rush to bust MY arse to fix their error in not getting things done in a timely manner... if *I* procrastinated, then I figure it's on me to stay after to finish if I need to, but if someone else did, I try not to let them put the burden on me for it).
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Originally Posted by CCS414
Not for me. I'm definitely more productive in the office. My most productive days are when I go in on Friday (we work 4-10's and are closed on Fridays) and no one is there to bother me or distract me.
I can be the opposite... or maybe "no one is there to bother me or distract me" is the operative phrase here. I feel like people ask me for more things when I'm right there vs. when they'd have to pick up the phone and call/send an email (sometimes I wonder if it's something they might not even think to ask me for except they see me and think, "OH, I can ask her!"). Not sure what they do with their problems, then, when I'm not there... but maybe they figure it out on their own like they should try doing before they ask me anyway (or, they just sit around and get resentful that I'm not there to help them; not sure which).
I actually scheduled to make sure my busiest day of the week is a work-from-home day, for precisely that reason. I have enough going on without also dealing with the people who walk up to my desk or stop me when I pass them in the office, or ask me to "fix" some office-based thing like the fridge leaking, copier being jammed or out of paper, their computer/internet doesn't work, etc.
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Originally Posted by Variable
When the morning commute is removed, there is a lot of extra time for employee to sleep longer in the morning. 30-90 minutes extra sleep time rather than waking up before dawn due to long commute.
When the need to shower and dress up before work is removed from the morning routine, there is extra time for employee to sleep later in the morning. 30-60 minutes of time saved.
When the evening commute is removed, there is extra time for the employee to do leisure activities after work, instead of commuting home from work. 30-90 minutes time saved.
This extra time for sleeping and leisure is NOT taken during work hours. It's due to the time saved commuting before/after work and time saved getting ready for work each morning.
Oh, yes. Never mind being able to run errands/do medical appointments and such at lunch rather than having to take leave to leave early (because you just run across town and back quickly, rather than having to commute back to your town first and then possibly back to work), or having to take an extra hour of leave just for the commute back to your town if you have a medical appointment or something. (Honestly, this right here seems like it'd make it worthwhile for employers. I can take an hour off for a doctor's appointment if I go from home, or I can take two hours off if I go from the office. Let me stay home in the first place and you can have that extra hour of work out of me instead of me using it to drive back home...) And the money saved on gas/wear and tear on your car/sometimes insurance if you can drop down to a level with fewer miles driven. And not having to rush to get to evening activities from wherever your job is.
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Originally Posted by Forever Blue
Well, I notice occasionally that certain remote jobs want you to be ON-CAMERA at ALL times during your entire work shift (except for lunches & breaks) because they don't want people slacking off, thinking they can still take care of their babies/kids, dogs, etc.
I'll be starting a temp job real soon that will be implementing this & thank God it's only temporary! Do I like it? NO, but not because I slack off whatsoever when working remotely (& I don't even have kids or pets). I mean who would actually like being on camera for their whole shift? That means I'll still have to do hair, makeup, have a nice top on, I guess can't even fart, etc. (I never eat while working anyway.) I mean that's one of the main beauties of being able to work from home...having the comfortability & privacy to be at home while still earning a living.
Honestly, I would think this would suck because I'm a bit weirded-out by the prospect of basically having to invite employer and coworkers into my home (and thus personal life). I guess it's because I'm a pretty private person, but they don't need to see what my decor is like, if I have dirty socks on the floor or books scattered around, what my cat is up to, etc. I was always a bit weirded out by things like broadcasts from home of the news and stuff. I felt bad for the anchors, like... an entire viewing area of random strangers now knows what the inside of your house and pictures of your family look like. Maybe it's just me, but that seems creepy AF.
Well, I notice occasionally that certain remote jobs want you to be ON-CAMERA at ALL times during your entire work shift (except for lunches & breaks) because they don't want people slacking off, thinking they can still take care of their babies/kids, dogs, etc.
I'll be starting a temp job real soon that will be implementing this & thank God it's only temporary! Do I like it? NO, but not because I slack off whatsoever when working remotely (& I don't even have kids or pets). I mean who would actually like being on camera for their whole shift? That means I'll still have to do hair, makeup, have a nice top on, I guess can't even fart, etc. (I never eat while working anyway.) I mean that's one of the main beauties of being able to work from home...having the comfortability & privacy to be at home while still earning a living.
Just ... an extremely odd thing to post.
Who would stand for that and who has time to sift through hours and hours of footage?
I'm definitely less productive at home than in the office and I while I do think there are such types who are laser efficient, I think the types of people who post online prolifically are generally not those people.
Back when we were in the office, we had to log on to get internet access.
You only had to do it once in the beginning of the day, it was just a formality. They never tracked what we were doing.
A few coworkers, one guy in particular, I'd talk to him at 1 or 2 PM in the afternoon and discuss something work related and have them look up something on the internet.
And they had to log on, which meant they had just been working non-stop from like 9 to 2.
I always logged on first thing and goofed around for a little.
I would have serious concerns with being on camera all the time. I am not the only person in my household. What protections does the employer have to ensure that the cameras aren't hacked, and my kids image isn't exploited by pedophiles? Or to turn on the camera when I am off the clock, and may not be dressed in work attire?
If I am not on camera, will I be required to explain every trip to the bathroom or to refill my coffee mug?
A company would likely get more information from me if they employed a keystroke tool. After all, a camera could show me sitting at my computer staring at my screen, but I could be using social media or writing on city-data's forum or writing my grocery list, and not 'on task'. A keystroke monitoring application would capture what software I am using, and what I am doing with it.
Last edited by MarianRavenwood; 10-30-2022 at 07:38 PM..
I would have serious concerns with being on camera all the time. I am not the only person in my household. What protections does the employer have to ensure that the cameras aren't hacked, and my kids image isn't exploited by pedophiles? Or to turn on the camera when I am off the clock, and may not be dressed in work attire?
If I am not on camera, will I be required to explain every trip to the bathroom or to refill my coffee mug?
A company would likely get more information from me if they employed a keystroke tool. After all, a camera could show me sitting at my computer staring at my screen, but I could be using social media or writing on city-data's forum or writing my grocery list, and not 'on task'. A keystroke monitoring application would capture what software I am using.
Again, I'm not thrilled about this either. Thank God this is only a temp situation (of 3 mos, but M-F for 8 hrs/day). I'm sure they'll explain it all during the work training. Also when I'm not working, you better believe I'm putting a post-it note paper to cover up the camera hole, so they can't see anything extra during non-work hrs. Heck, I keep my OWN camera covered on my personal computer.
& re: being in work attire, that's what I had said in a past post here. I'll have to throw a presentable top on & have some kind of makeup & hair done somewhat, but I'm sure not going to spend more than 5 min on that. I'm sure others may even keep on PJ bottoms/shorts, but I'm not that tacky. I'm sure I could blur out my background...I hope. They just want to see US & make sure we're doing our work.
I’ve seen abstracts that are longer than this article or the study that it references. So many questions but it pushes the narrative that teleworking-for-government-employees-is-ending.
I am not surprised this article came out of the NY Fed branch. NYC politicians have been desperate to get their office towers re-populated.
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