Working From Home? Your Company Could Be Watching You For Productivity

As the coronavirus pandemic continues on, most of us are continuing our jobs and working from home. But just because you don't go into the office anymore, doesn't mean the office doesn't see you anymore...

Chris Heuwetter runs a social-media marketing company called 98 Buck Social in Florida. A few weeks after his employees began working from home, he said that he noticed a large number of them logging on to their computers for work, but much later than usual.

“We realized we didn’t know what was going on,” he said. “We were just worried that we were losing productivity.”

So he implemented a new company policy: all employees must install a tool that takes a screenshot of their computer screen every 10 minutes, as well as records how much time is spent on each work project. Heuwetter says that this new technology has helped him determine which employees are most productive (at home), as well as what tasks seem to consume most of their days.

“There was some tension when we first rolled it out,” he added. “I didn’t see any eye rolls, but I felt the eyes roll.”

But it's not just Heuwetter's employees who are experiencing this new policy. Many monitoring software companies have reported large increases in the number of companies signing up, all due to the work-from-home orders across the country.

“What’s happening today is just an acceleration of what’s been happening,” says Brian Foster, senior vice president of product management at MobileIron Inc., a device-management and security company.

Heuwetter says that the software has noticeably increased the productivity of his employees and company, helping him to better identify those who deserve a pay raise in the future.

“I’m in love with it,” he said. “I’m never going back.”

Read the full report on The Wall Street Journal.


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