I saw this

[Link]

It does sounds excessive / spying and unnecessary.

When I worked about 15 years ago we had a portal on our home computers that linked us to their office.

As part of the software the staff had 3 options:

1. Not working / Not logged in (Off switch)
2. Working
3. Taking a break

Our boss could not access our home cameras or home compute etc. However he knew who was working, if you logged in and then went out for the day the software would report no keyboard activity so you would have to explain yourself.

Anyway he had metrics but was not able to spy on what exactly you were doing.

As I am retired I wonder what others people's experiences of being managed from home are like.

One more point

Agreed that is far too intrusive something like I outlined should respect employee privacy and allow the boss to manage.

As regards trust I would say to any boss why punish your good staff for the odd bad employee that is bad management deal with the shirkers but give some slack to the workers.

One more point

My last boss was very like that he was fine with people taking time off for family stuff e.g. doctors appointments school sports day etc. In return the staff worked harder for him and made up the time elsewhere.

So if you employ bad and lazy staff that is on the management and the recruitment policy. If you treat people like adults they generally respond in kind and if the odd one doesn't deal with them don't make the rest suffer.

One more point

When I've had office bosses (from 1990's to 2006), they seemed to operate the policy of "If the job gets done on time, and the client is happy, arrange your own timetable to suit".
So before vehicle tracking, the company vans got taken to the golf course, to the airport, and a memorable ferry trip for a booze cruise.
My experience, is that if your boss treats you fairly, there is no need to take the pl55.
When unreasonable demands are made of employees, there is far more likelihood of time/stuff going missing.
I did have one boss who said he was going to monitor train arrivals in internet, to disprove any "train was late" excuses. That never materialised.
So I think I've been quite fortunate, up to the point I went self-employed.
I don't think I could ever monitor an employees behaviour and use of work-time in such an intrusive manner. It just exposes shortfalls in proper management, rather than unscrupulous workers.

Edited by Forest Hillbilly (05 Nov 2021 6.13pm)

"The facts have changed", Rishi Sunak

Why?

Palace since 19 August 1972. Palace 1 (Tony Taylor) Liverpool 1 (Emlyn Hughes)

Agreed I don't see why the boss has the right to use your webcam or search your PC. There are other ways of checking up on your staff. The tool I mentioned was like a calendar so at a glance the boss would know which staff are sick / holiday who was in the office and who was working from home.

One more point