"The Worker Productivity Score"

[Velar Fricative]

This is an interesting interactive article. Now these tracking tools are tracking white-collar workers so more complaints are being taken seriously than they have been with blue-collar workers.

Gift article 

IN LOWER-PAYING JOBS, the monitoring is already ubiquitous: not just at Amazon, where the second-by-second measurements became notorious, but also for Kroger cashiers, UPS drivers and millions of others. Eight of the 10 largest private U.S. employers track the productivity metrics of individual workers, many in real time, according to an examination by The New York Times.



Now digital productivity monitoring is also spreading among white-collar jobs and roles that require graduate degrees. Many employees, whether working remotely or in person, are subject to trackers, scores, “idle” buttons, or just quiet, constantly accumulating records. Pauses can lead to penalties, from lost pay to lost jobs.



Some radiologists see scoreboards showing their “inactivity” time and how their productivity stacks up against their colleagues’. At companies including J.P. Morgan, tracking how employees spend their days, from making phone calls to composing emails, has become routine practice. In Britain, Barclays Bank scrapped prodding messages to workers, like “Not enough time in the Zone yesterday,” after they caused an uproar. At UnitedHealth Group, low keyboard activity can affect compensation and sap bonuses. Public servants are tracked, too: In June, New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority told engineers and other employees they could work remotely one day a week if they agreed to full-time productivity monitoring.



Architects, academic administrators, doctors, nursing home workers and lawyers described growing electronic surveillance over every minute of their workday. They echoed complaints that employees in many lower-paid positions have voiced for years: that their jobs are relentless, that they don’t have control — and in some cases, that they don’t even have enough time to use the bathroom. In interviews and in hundreds of written submissions to The Times, white-collar workers described being tracked as “demoralizing,” “humiliating” and “toxic.” Micromanagement is becoming standard, they said.

The part about tracking hospice workers is pretty nuts though. 

[jinkies]

When I was job-hunting for my current job, I was offered a job at a company that I had actually been pursuing for a few years. During the interview process they spent a LOT of time talking about how they manage their remote employees through tracking programs. It was the main reason I ultimately declined their offer. I just don't work that way, and I imagine that's true for a lot of people.

Assigning productivity points to clergy and hospice workers is just beyond.

[gretchenindisguise]

I’d love for these people implementing this nonsense to show me any research that shows this actually increases productivity and/or output.

[estrellita]

My current job is tracked, but I'm in a sort of production role so it makes sense. They don't use it to nitpick (as long as you have a good manager I suppose) but more to see where people are at and for hiring purposes.

But doing the same kind of tracking in health care or other industries? That seems absolutely insane!

[aurora]

I would despise this.

[pixy0stix]

Time tracking is useful if you're trying to figure out an issue, such as time lost fixing continual problems in a process. What is described in the article is insanity. We've forgotten that actual human beings are doing these jobs, and that trickles down to our society in that we forget that humans are fallible in the most basic of ways.

[AJL]

The simulated tracking while reading the article upped my anxiety significantly. Even one of the creators of a productivity tracking program said, "He became awash in anxiety and doubtful about its accuracy. “Some days you were just moving the cursor around just for the sake of it,” he said. The tool was powerful but dangerous, he concluded."

I'm adding the question "Does this organization use productivity tracking software and how?" to my list of job questions. If this answer is yes, then my answer is nope.

[CurlyQ284]

My H worked in IT up until he lost his job before covid and could not get anyone to call back. Now he works a blue collar job he got through a friend of ours and the tracking they do is pretty demoralizing. They squeeze every drop out of their employees, it kind of seems like the goal is to work them to death.

So hopefully implementing this at white collar jobs will cause enough push back to get this crap scaled way back for everyone.

[wildrice]

This would not work for me, at all. I have poorly managed ADHD (not for lack of trying... nothing works) and it is impossible for me to be on task as much as a neurotypical person. And I know for a fact that even a neurotypical person cannot possibly work 40 hours a week of productive time, at least not without putting in a lot of additional hours to account for interruptions, bathroom breaks, spacing out, etc.

There is a lot of research saying basically that autonomy and trust are important components of job satisfaction and productivity. This goes against that completely.

That said, I can see some benefits. If it was not being used punitively, I can see it being helpful to better understanding your own personal work habits and also for employers to measure workloads. If an employer can see that someone is getting their work done in 20 hours while working 40, they can potentially use some of that employee's time to help out another employee or department that is getting swamped. Or if someone is working hard for 50 hours a week, they have evidence that additional headcount is needed. Of course, all of my positives assume that organizations are rational and fair and aren't going to use data against employees, which is too often not the case. So in reality I think these would cause more harm than good. There are plenty of other ways to measure performance that I think are more important.

[rupertpenny]

Are there any jobs where you are never not typing/mousing? Maybe the kind of job where you create productivity tracking software, but I can't think of much else. You can't exactly track time spent on critical thinking by counting keystrokes.

[wise_rita]

Aug 15, 2022 13:04:40 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Time tracking is useful if you're trying to figure out an issue, such as time lost fixing continual problems in a process. What is described in the article is insanity. We've forgotten that actual human beings are doing these jobs, and that trickles down to our society in that we forget that humans are fallible in the most basic of ways.

I say let the robots take over for these things that must be tracked in such detail.

At the current rate I don't think we're going to have store checkouts and restaurant serving done by humans at the end of our lifetime.

[pixy0stix]

Aug 15, 2022 15:14:54 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

Aug 15, 2022 13:04:40 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Time tracking is useful if you're trying to figure out an issue, such as time lost fixing continual problems in a process. What is described in the article is insanity. We've forgotten that actual human beings are doing these jobs, and that trickles down to our society in that we forget that humans are fallible in the most basic of ways.

I say let the robots take over for these things that must be tracked in such detail.

At the current rate I don't think we're going to have store checkouts and restaurant serving done by humans at the end of our lifetime.

Which is wild, because up to this point we (collective) have been fighting back against robots having those jobs because we needed to preserve those jobs for humans who needed them. Now we just don't have the population to sustain the workforce that we need.

[goldengirlz]

On the Clock is a great book on this subject. It mostly focuses on hourly roles (in warehouses, call centers and fast food) but it paints a pretty horrifying picture.

[agnes]

Just reading the article gave me anxiety with all the notifications about being idle and my color changing from green to yellow constantly.

This is why I have my Teams set to inactive. The important people I work with know they can still message me during work hours. But I don’t need everyone to know my status all the time.

[Velar Fricative]

Aug 15, 2022 15:26:06 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Aug 15, 2022 15:14:54 GMT -5 wise_rita said:

I say let the robots take over for these things that must be tracked in such detail.

At the current rate I don't think we're going to have store checkouts and restaurant serving done by humans at the end of our lifetime.

Which is wild, because up to this point we (collective) have been fighting back against robots having those jobs because we needed to preserve those jobs for humans who needed them. Now we just don't have the population to sustain the workforce that we need.

I was at McDonald’s the other day and they had one person in front and then had the order kiosks, which I used. They actually looked to have a decent amount of workers there, they were just all in the back preparing food, organizing orders, cleaning, etc. I just thought “Man, I had such a visceral reaction first seeing these kiosks long ago and now THANK GOODNESS they exist because they won’t be able to find more workers.”

[Velar Fricative]

Aug 15, 2022 16:07:04 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

On the Clock is a great book on this subject. It mostly focuses on hourly roles (in warehouses, call centers and fast food) but it paints a pretty horrifying picture.

The article writer had written a piece not too long ago highlighting what happens in the Staten Island Amazon warehouse that just voted to unionize. It really was horrifying.

[fumbalina]

I have worked those blue collar jobs. The problem is not with the tracking, but with the ever increasing need to have better scores. It would be one thing if there was a bare minimum that everyone must be over, but instead, they track your monthly results and if you had 92% one month, the next month they expect 94%. There is also a complete lack of acknowledgement that some tasks take time that are not productive and affect the percentages. And of course the rewards tend to be a paid lunch, or an hour of time off, nothing worth much.

[fumbalina]

Aug 15, 2022 16:59:57 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

Aug 15, 2022 15:26:06 GMT -5 pixy0stix said:

Which is wild, because up to this point we (collective) have been fighting back against robots having those jobs because we needed to preserve those jobs for humans who needed them. Now we just don't have the population to sustain the workforce that we need.

I was at McDonald’s the other day and they had one person in front and then had the order kiosks, which I used. They actually looked to have a decent amount of workers there, they were just all in the back preparing food, organizing orders, cleaning, etc. I just thought “Man, I had such a visceral reaction first seeing these kiosks long ago and now THANK GOODNESS they exist because they won’t be able to find more workers.”

It really never was about the staff needed. People want someone they can look down on. Working in service, you get to see the worst of the worst. People with visceral reactions to an empty utensil container, people who will yell when you clarify a completely odd request, people who blame the front line people for supply shortages. 

[claudiajean]

I saw a job posting last week that sounded great but then the bottom said they make you keep your camera on the whole work day (implied to make sure you’re working) and I immediately knew it wasn’t for me.

[goldengirlz]

I realize we’ve long had this expectation in this country that because you’re paid for your time, not spending every second at work in dedication to the cause is tantamount to stealing.

But it’s a bullshit, twisted way to live.

[underwaterrhymes]

This is some bullshit and ignores the fact that the vast majority of people who are given the ability to manage their own time are far more productive and loyal than those who are micromanaged.

[sent]

This is why I would be a terrible employee. I'd either quit outright or I'd be moving the mouse every 2 minutes or whatever the threshold was until I could quit.

[redheadbaker]

Holy crap. I track my time because we bill our "clients" (other departments within the company), but I enter time worked on each task manually, because there's research, there's sketching on physical paper, etc.

If my company started doing this, I'd be job searching to get out of there ASAP.

[isabel]

Aug 15, 2022 18:45:55 GMT -5 claudiajean said:

I saw a job posting last week that sounded great but then the bottom said they make you keep your camera on the whole work day (implied to make sure you’re working) and I immediately knew it wasn’t for me.

For... who? Like, who is watching you? This is bizarre.

[wambam]

The fact that management has time to calculate and dock people for going to the bathroom, sketching out ideas on paper, getting a cup of coffee…makes me think they need more actual work to do.

[msmerymac]

Aug 15, 2022 20:58:16 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Holy crap. I track my time because we bill our "clients" (other departments within the company), but I enter time worked on each task manually, because there's research, there's sketching on physical paper, etc.

If my company started doing this, I'd be job searching to get out of there ASAP.

Yeah, the last two jobs I've had we also enter manually, but those jobs are in agencies. At my last company I also had to make a certain percentage "billable" each month, but that was just a goal and there were no penalties for not doing it. We had to log at least 7 hours of work time a day at that company, and 7.5 a day at my current company, no requirement for "billable" (and in fact, my position is one of the only ones that has no billable requirement specifically BECAUSE I'm often working on strategy, development, research, and things that might not be immediately billable to a client but are good for my job and company). 

I did see a mouse on an Amazon ad the other day that automatically jiggles for you every few seconds if you're not there to make it look like you're around, I guess. Which would only fool things like the green light/circle on Zoom or Teams or Slack, not more detailed keystroke software or whatever, but I'm not surprised. I also remember that Outlook/Microsoft got huge pushback for the "productivity reports" they implemented a year or two ago.

[msmerymac]

Aug 16, 2022 9:41:46 GMT -5 wambam said:

The fact that management has time to calculate and dock people for going to the bathroom, sketching out ideas on paper, getting a cup of coffee…makes me think they need more actual work to do.

Right? I've never worked at a place that has the time or budget to have someone actually monitor this stuff.

[goldengirlz]

Aug 15, 2022 17:12:13 GMT -5 fumbalina said:

Aug 15, 2022 16:59:57 GMT -5 Velar Fricative said:

I was at McDonald’s the other day and they had one person in front and then had the order kiosks, which I used. They actually looked to have a decent amount of workers there, they were just all in the back preparing food, organizing orders, cleaning, etc. I just thought “Man, I had such a visceral reaction first seeing these kiosks long ago and now THANK GOODNESS they exist because they won’t be able to find more workers.”

It really never was about the staff needed. People want someone they can look down on. Working in service, you get to see the worst of the worst. People with visceral reactions to an empty utensil container, people who will yell when you clarify a completely odd request, people who blame the front line people for supply shortages. 

There was an article in The Atlantic about the history of the service industry and it was basically this. The idea was to create an economy around two classes: people with money and people who serve people with money. And it worked for our capitalist society because people felt like the only way to gain “status” was to spend, spend, spend; you are what you can buy. In many ways, that’s still very much true today.

[livinitup]

Before I got my current job, the company did some tracking to measure productivity. They dropped it before I started working there mostly because it didn’t actually help with OUTCOMES. I could see that it was fairly easy to game the system. Like, cut and paste a thousand emails to costumers to rack-up inputs into the system. I have a bunch of accounts from someone who was STELLAR at this. It’s funny to see a typo (small, not important) in an email that clearly got cut & pasted 100x, next to an operations message that said “unopened” 100+ times.

What a waste of time. But she got top scores!

[lilypad1126]

When I was deciding whether to take my current job last year, I asked alllll the questions around how they track productivity. Bc no way was I talking a wfh job if they expected/tracked some of these things. I’m in a sales type position, so engagement and sales of our product should be enough. And sure, track my activities that I enter in our database, but hell no to tracking how often I move my mouse, or am not right at my computer. The day that starts is the day I leave for a better job.