3 ms·

As an employer, I have caught people paying someone else to do the job they were hired to do. This is literally fraud... The company believes it is paying for a

As an employer, I have caught people paying someone else to do the job they were hired to do. This is literally fraud... The company believes it is paying for a highly qualified individual while someone not qualified is doing the work. This can result in serious quality or quantity problems. Not to mention legal issues from someone doing the work who has not signed the NDA and invention assignment. Be very careful doing this as it could result in prison time. I do have an employee who has another job as well. As long as they are not working on the second job during the first job shift, I'm okay with it. We use a tool called Time Doctor that lots of employees complain about being overly intrusive as it takes screenshots and webcam shots of the employee. We have to use it is there are lots of people like those in the article above.

Ancalagon 5y ago
Are your employees required to have their webcam uncovered? How do you monitor the screenshots of your employees, assuming you have many and they are all doing various tasks (possibly taking breaks) all throughout the day? I find this all this fascinating, coming from my own managerial standpoint that as long as my employees are getting their work done on time, there isn't really a problem.
- silexia 5y ago
  Yes, employees need to have their webcam uncovered. The purpose of the webcam is to make sure that the person we are paying to do the work is the one actually doing the work. Screenshots are not checked in depth unless someone is having productivity issues. Screenshots are actually a protection for the employee who is not getting work done as they should. Sometimes it turns out that they've been working very hard at a specific problem, but may just not have been able to make progress against it at this point. I also come at it from a different point of view. I don't have a specific number of widgets per day a person is supposed to turn out. That is not what I am paying for. I am paying for that person's expertise and time and it is up to me to direct it in a way that is profitable for the company. If I direct the person to do a test that is not profitable for the company and they do it to their best of their ability, that is my fault, not theirs. I never ask for overtime, but I do require that people work their allocated hours. I have 200 full-time employees doing a very wide range of tasks and judging productivity is challenging even though we have many KPIs for measuring it. Time is far easier to manage. I do give incentive pay based on productivity to try to encourage not just butt in the chair time, but productive work. Back when I was a line employee, I wish that there was a way to pay purely based on productivity. Productivity. As a manager, I have seen it is incredibly challenging to devise a proper system to do so. I have spent years and years working on this and still only have systems that are okay at it. Time just makes sense to measure from an employee standpoint and from a business standpoint, that's why most businesses do it.
  - jjeaff 5y ago
    You should include in your job listings that you screen record and take photos of them while they work, so that no one that isn't desperate for a job has to waste their time applying.
    - mission_failed 5y ago
      Who would want to ever work under those conditions, it's practically spending all your working hours dealing with the Stasi just to pay your bills.
  - HeyZuess 5y ago
    > I have 200 full-time employees This is not a criticism, but are you offshoring jobs? This sounds like an issue which I have experienced many times for jobs which have been off shored.
mission_failed 5y ago
It's called outsourcing, like that thing that horrible management does to their loyal employees. Surprised you have not heard about it

Ancalagon 5y ago

Are your employees required to have their webcam uncovered? How do you monitor the screenshots of your employees, assuming you have many and they are all doing various tasks (possibly taking breaks) all throughout the day? I find this all this fascinating, coming from my own managerial standpoint that as long as my employees are getting their work done on time, there isn't really a problem.

silexia 5y ago
Yes, employees need to have their webcam uncovered. The purpose of the webcam is to make sure that the person we are paying to do the work is the one actually doing the work. Screenshots are not checked in depth unless someone is having productivity issues. Screenshots are actually a protection for the employee who is not getting work done as they should. Sometimes it turns out that they've been working very hard at a specific problem, but may just not have been able to make progress against it at this point. I also come at it from a different point of view. I don't have a specific number of widgets per day a person is supposed to turn out. That is not what I am paying for. I am paying for that person's expertise and time and it is up to me to direct it in a way that is profitable for the company. If I direct the person to do a test that is not profitable for the company and they do it to their best of their ability, that is my fault, not theirs. I never ask for overtime, but I do require that people work their allocated hours. I have 200 full-time employees doing a very wide range of tasks and judging productivity is challenging even though we have many KPIs for measuring it. Time is far easier to manage. I do give incentive pay based on productivity to try to encourage not just butt in the chair time, but productive work. Back when I was a line employee, I wish that there was a way to pay purely based on productivity. Productivity. As a manager, I have seen it is incredibly challenging to devise a proper system to do so. I have spent years and years working on this and still only have systems that are okay at it. Time just makes sense to measure from an employee standpoint and from a business standpoint, that's why most businesses do it.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  You should include in your job listings that you screen record and take photos of them while they work, so that no one that isn't desperate for a job has to waste their time applying.
  - mission_failed 5y ago
    Who would want to ever work under those conditions, it's practically spending all your working hours dealing with the Stasi just to pay your bills.
- HeyZuess 5y ago
  > I have 200 full-time employees This is not a criticism, but are you offshoring jobs? This sounds like an issue which I have experienced many times for jobs which have been off shored.

mission_failed 5y ago

It's called outsourcing, like that thing that horrible management does to their loyal employees. Surprised you have not heard about it