Remote work is still 'frustrating and disorienting' for bosses, economist says—their No. 1 problem with it is how difficult it is to observe and monitor employees
Remote work is still 'frustrating and disorienting' for bosses, economist says—their No. 1 problem with it is how difficult it is to observe and monitor employees
Although some bosses have recognized the benefits of workplace flexibility, many are still hesitant to adopt remote work permanently.
There is a great way to monitor employee’s performance. This one weird trick will save you losing your best employees!
Are their tasks getting done on time and with quality work?
Congrats! You just learned how to treat your employees like adults.
Now kindly fuck off and let me continue to work in my underwear.
I’ve been working remotely for almost a decade now and have been a manager for 6 of those years and I do the following:
Is [EMPLOYEE]’s work getting done? If yes then do nothing aside from thanking them. If no then talk to employee and/or start the corrective action process.
I have neither the need nor the desire to hover over them. They’re grown ass adults.
"Bosses" can go fuck themselves, alongside the astroturfing scum that keeps pumping out articles trying to validate the idiotic decision of returning to offices.
You can monitor the work being done. Is the work being done? That's all you need to know.
I think the biggest problem is that employers used to require that we do all the work we can do. The easiest way to achieve that is to observe that no one is slacking off. With Home Office there is suddenly a need to find out what is a reasonable workload. They seem to fear that they don't get occupy the employees 100% of the time and as usual on capitalism it is not enough when you produce enough bit when you produce all you can.
It's actually not that hard. If the assigned tasks are being fulfilled within set parameters there's really nothing to observe and keep track of. What they're worried about and what they can't monitor and observe is what the employees are doing outside of those tasks.
My friend works from home he does all his work and in the down time he'll run errands, work out, and play pool at his local bar. Whatever. His work is fully completed and submitted and his performance views are top notch.
And that's pretty much the only thing employers need to be worried about. How well the work is being completed.
Fuck the office.
Micromanagers HATE this one trick.
Most industries should do remote work as much as possible, specifically the ones that involves sitting in front of a computer all day: less traffic on the road, no commute time, more commercial office real estate that can be converted to housing/shops...
I don't really see the downside to any of this except to micro-managers.
And THAT is the real purpose behind RTO; these pathetic losers feel like they’ve lost grip on those they perceive below them
They desperately need to feel in control. (Also they want to introduce things like second-by-second AI monitoring of each employee, this is already a reality; ever heard of WADU? Sounds bad but not that bad right? wrong)
Here’s some relevant snippets
I think everyone expects their employer to track them to some extent. It is pretty standard practice for employers to monitor and run analysis on things like building badge swipes and the amount of time spent connected when working from home. It has also become very common place for employers to record audio and video at the office. WADU is on a different level. It is an artificial intelligence & machine learning system for workforce human behavior. Starting at the moment you arrive to the building, WADU is tracking you using facial and speech recognition. Most JPMC offices and branches have been outfitted with some of the best HD AV security cameras. Whenever you are at your desk, know that there is a HD camera tracking you the entire time. WADU uses the array of HD cameras at the office to monitor all of your non-verbal body language all throughout the day. The collected information is then fed into the AI/ML system and it is used to update your WADU profile in real time. Every manager gets access to a dashboard that lists all the metrics about their subordinates. The productivity metrics about an employee start getting updated immediately after an employee logs into the system. If the employee is at the office, two bio-metrics are available, attention/focus and stress. The bio-metric feeds are updated from the facial and behavioral tracking. Having a bad day? Stressed about something? WADU has already noticed this and alerted your manager. Can’t focus? Not working at your usual pace? WADU has already noticed this and alerted your manager. Did something you normally don’t do? It’s possible WADU flagged it as suspicious and alerted your manager. WADU is also why they are pushing RTO or “return to office” so hard. Upper management does not care if some employees are more productive when they are working from home. They want everyone back in the office as much as possible so that their WADU profiles are being refined. Enhancing their insight into you is more important to them than better productivity from working from home. A lot of teams are now required to come in two to three days per week. Director level and higher are required to come in four to five days per week. Upper management wants to see everyone at all levels back in the office five days a week. They have invested millions into the WADU system, and they want to get a return on that investment. That only happens whenever people are in the office as much as possible.
Guess what...FUCK BOSSES.
Tell me you're an incompetent manager without telling me you're an incompetent manager.
If the work gets done, what's the problem?
This is how you realize that management spent a good chunk of their day just checking on employees while not actually doing anything, and now they're being exposed for having to find ways to fill their day while employees are still being as productive as they were previously.
My old manager through covid required us to log the projects we worked on in a day in an outlook calendar to report our work hours. We had cellphones and were expected to be available during working hours to the public. Work productivity soared, and never had to be managed. Work was already tracked in the database anyway.
New manager barely does shit. Has little mechanism for oversight. You'd think itd be great, but no. My productivity is now ass because work assignments are all over the place with half of the supervisory tasks delegated to junior staff "leads" with no consistency. Most of my time is now wasted with email chains and update meetings so he can figure out what is going on.
I miss working all day from home.
Management is often the cause, not the cure, to low productivity.
Waaa! Poor babies.
I've been remote since 2019. It's great!
Their No. 1 problem with it is how difficult it is to observe and monitor employees
Um, no. Like others here have pointed out, the overwhelming majority of office workers have to turn in countable digital product of some sort for their job production. LOOK AT IT. Was it the quantity and quality required of them? Well, there you go.
Also, what the hell are you on about, hypothetical boss? In today's technical age, so many bosses can just remote view a worker's screens (even when the workers don't know that it's happening in real time).
It's creepy to spy, but if you really suspect someone's away from keyboard extendedly when they aren't supposed to be, you can literally just look in.
"I can't monitor my employees" is such a weird complaint when counting is a thing and tech tools are out there designed to let you overview your workforce.
So their own job has no value. Got it.
But the biggest disadvantage of remote work that employers cite is how difficult it is to observe and monitor employees
I'm sure these employers hire external contractors. Do they insist on observing and monitoring those contractors? Are they going to insist their contracotr's employees be active on Teams at all times?
I hate the idea that if working from home for an employer is somehow different from working as a freelancer from home.
Pre-pandemic, bosses relied on desk visits and peer monitoring, which occurs when co-workers notice and comment on each other’s work, to keep employees on track in the office, and there is no clear replacement for them in a remote setting, Pollak explains.
Again: If they hired a contractor, would they want to "drop by their desk" to comment on their work? Why do they insist on treating employees like Clients from Hell?
“It’s hard to know which measure these software programs track even matters,” Pollak adds. “A lot of knowledge work is done in video meetings, or offline in phone calls, research and brainstorming, and it’s impossible to quantify all of that.”
Yes, exactly. So stop trying to quantify it. Quantify the results of that knowledge work. A results-focused management style works best for remote work, not hovering over your peons waiting for them to make a mistake.
“If the pandemic and ‘great resignation’ taught us anything, it’s that managers need to be intentional and engaged with employees to be truly effective,”
Holy cow, managers need to talk to their workers! Thank The Invisible Hand this priestly Economist has brought this nugget of wisdom from the Ivory Tower.
Also, I love that the image for this article is a bleak and soulless office. I don't know how people see this and still wonder why nobody wants to be there.
I had so many negative interactions with my now former manager over this. We worked primarily remotely with occasional in-office days and he constantly complained normal back-and-forth communication on projects or delays by teammates on certain sections of said projects was because we weren’t “collaborating in-person.” Nah, it’s because the project wasn’t staffed properly and unclear expectations were set by bad management. Shrug, who knows if we’ll ever get rid of this nonsense
We can't tell you off for taking a moment to look at your phone or for wearing headphones unless you are in the office; this is how we justify our positions.. so despite the economic, environmental and quality of life improvements we are demanding you return so we can continue to justify our pay and position.
Also fuck you, and get in your cubicle bitch
Lool, without having subordinates in shouting distance they're realizing they produce very little themselves, and now the subordinates can organize themselves. God forbid you do some of the work they're doing and help them out a bit eh?
Finally, some truth. Micromanagers can’t show their worth because they can’t micromanage.
Micromanagement needs to be fired. It’s old school and outdated.
Daily reminder: economists work for banks, not for us.
They still don't get that if you have to observe and monitor your employees, then you have the wrong employees.
Managers who don't know how to manage are confused by being asked to manage.
Fucking idiot assholes. Even my most type-a micromanager boss in decades managed to keep tabs on me remotely.
Sure there are spyware tools that monitor everything you do on the computer. But it sure seems like a better use of time and money to just hire good people, trust them, and evaluate the quality and timeliness of work.
These idiot companies should spend some time training managers how to do their goddamn jobs effectively.
Sounds like they need retraining or firing then. They need to learn some CRM skills.
I shopped around and recently got a new CRM that works better for what our company is doing, and helps keep tabs on everyone's workload and time tracking and it's so good.
And I'm not even managing anyone, my department is a one-man army. It's just really really nice to be able to hold yourself accountable, take relevant notes for future reference, and see what workload I have every day. I'm still busy and stressed to fuck, but the load off my brain trying to remember every single job I have is phenomenal.
I don't need a meeting or a phone call or an hour standing at anyone's desk, I just open a dashboard and go 'Cool I can see what's coming, whats been done, whos working on it, and all the documentation and logging I need to be informed about how it effects my work' in seconds.
They don’t know much about spyware then
I'm pretty sure nearly everyone who was WFH in my area had to return to the office because my morning commute went from 25-30m to 35-40m. Doesn't sound like much but the traffic has gotten so busy the long way is faster most mornings.
I spent about a year fully remote, and have been hybrid since the pandemic. I am happy!
Breaking: Bosses' number 1 problem with remote work is actually the best part
I’m just glad that so far my job has held at 2 days in office. It still sucks and I’m way less productive in office than I was when I was WFH full time, but it could be worse.
I think this issue does reflect on bad management. They don’t know how to monitor their team’s output, justify their existence or curb bad employees without being in the same room. That’s on them, not WFH.
More like how do they justify their jobs. Supervisors can't afford for employees to be judged on results. They need to have a system where they can look over shoulders else what good are the supervisors.
If the work gets done, then congrats there are no problems
I work so much more efficiently at home. I'm mostly remote. Come in a couple days a month. The days I go in are trying to zone out all the office distractions. Also I have to use a hotel docking station setup that I will always have an problem with at least something about it. A sizeable portion of my day is just getting setup and into a work state. I work in software development with cloud platforms. Going into the office I know I'm gonna get fuck all done. Also the Internet is way worse on site.
However there is a few people on my team that do fuck all everyday. I keep hearing rumors that they are gonna make us come back. It's frustrating because you know the few ones that are taking advantage are gonna be an easy excuse for management to call us in.
Hey Boss -
Ever since TV remote was invented, you don't even walk up to the TV to change the channel - why the fuck you need to call us back to the office and breath over our necks? Unless you are a pervert (a lot of you indeed are) - you don't need to stare at our faces (or our asses) to assess our work, learn to embrace the zoom age !
You reportee (who is still hanging around because the pay is okay, I can work from home, and don't have to bear your shitface every morning)
translates to: micromanage, take credit for the success of the Employee, and blame for the Employee for the Bosses idiot decisions.
Won't anyone think of the people in positions of authority?!
Meanwhile, how often do you see stories about the dehumanization and police harassment of the human beings our society banishes to our innumerable tent cities to die of exposure for the crime of being sub-optimal capital batteries?
Shit like this is why I laugh when politicians and oligarchs show concern for things that "threaten our way of life." As if our society with core values of greed and sociopathy has anything of actual value worth maintaining.
From the perspective of the bottom 80%, let this capitalist dystopia collapse into dust. From the perspective of those homeless Americans left to die by our supposedly ethical nation, it'll just be another tuesday, but maybe one where they won't be harassed or killed by law enforcement simply for seeking shelter from the elements.
Dumbasses don't know how to do proper metrics.
I'm personally fine with going into the office but if you're job can be done from home and you are just as productive, work from home.
Boo hoo fuck them
Skill issue.
Oh poor poor managers, you don't get to pick our noses all day long and time our pee breaks? How unfortunate.
Uh-huh... Mmm hmmm... Ok, decent read that brings up some interesting points from the perspective of the employer. Employers need to monitor, but monitoring destroys morale. Do you propose a solution?
Invest in middle managers as connecting leaders between front-line employees and upper management and encourage them to work one-on-one with their direct reports to outline clear workflows and expectations.
FUUUUUU-
I mean honestly, remote work would do wonders for being anti union
I know it won't be popular, but I don't possibly see how remote work is better for work itself.
I was WFH for about 10 years. I had my first child, needed to parental leave (from a very small company), and they gave it to me. But I offered to "WFH" when the baby was napping and stuff so if they needed me for things I could make it work. Even after the time was up, things were still going well, and my commute was long, so they agreed to allowing me to WFH a few days a week. Eventually we moved because of my wife's job and then the pandemic, and I told them they either had to fire me or allow me to WFH 100%. They agreed to the latter.
It was a god send, without a doubt. The flexibility I had while my wife was busying with medical school/residency/fellowship was amazing. Being able to run out the door in the middle of the day for stuff was fantastic. And not having to commute is a thing of beauty.
However, after a couple of years, I realized how damaging it was to my productivity. No more ad hoc meetings where we grabbed a couple of engineers and sat down and quickly brainstormed something. It's much harder to reach out to someone over the internet than it is to just turn around and ask something. My career also started to stagnate.
When we finally settled down, I decided that I would focus on my career and pursue a new job. The new job is hybrid and, also amazingly, is only about a 15 minutes bike from my house. I don't know how I would have been able to start a new job without being in person. It's so much easier to just ask someone a question than it is. The collaboration we have is also much better than the previous 8 or so years I was fully WFH.
And as this article points out, it's the flexibility that I think is the best thing. No one bats an eye if you say you need an extra day at home that week. Or you need to go home because the plumber is coming. Or you're stepping out for a couple of hours for the doctor. This seems to be a permanent fixture at my new job.
Now, as I said, this is purely from a work perspective. Individually speaking, staying home is way better, especially if you have a shitty commute. I get that and would never say anyone should go back into the office. But I think the number of people who are actually way more productive at home are few and far between, the rest just really like the set up so they'll pretend it is way better for work, or even convince themselves it is way better. But the more and more the numbers come in, the more and more it's clear that generally speaking people are less productive with remote work.
It's going to end for most, and it's probably best to think about what best suits the needs to the individual and the business rather than clinging to the idea that it is superior in all ways.
