The use of digital productivity monitoring is becoming more common in graduate-level and white-collar occupations. Many workers remote or on-site are exposed to trackers, scores, “idle” buttons, or just silent, continuous record-keeping. Pauses may result in fines, such as missed wages or employment termination.
Architects, school administrators, physicians, caregivers for the elderly, and attorneys reported increased electronic monitoring throughout their working hours. They repeated long-standing grievances expressed by workers in many lower-paying positions: that their jobs are unforgiving, that they lack authority, and that they don’t even have enough time to go to the restroom. White-collar workers called tracking “demoralizing,” “humiliating,” and “toxic” in interviews and in hundreds of written complaints to The Times. They said that micromanagement is becoming commonplace.
The working world’s new clocks are simply inaccurate; they are poor at measuring difficult-to-quantify jobs, incompetent at recording offline activity, and likely to undermine the work itself. This is the most pressing concern, spanning industries and income levels.
Opposition to these practices, which labor activists describe as one of the biggest increases in employer power in decades, has grown along with them. Videos on TikTok include advice on how to trick the systems, such as using a “mouse jiggler,” a gadget that simulates movement. (The Liberty model is one well-liked example.) Truck drivers organizing protest convoys and warehouse workers seeking unionization have turned into some of the nation’s most agitated workers, and they are among the most keenly watched employees.
However, a number of employers and the developers of the tracking technology argue that although the specifics still need to be worked out, the practice has grown useful and may perhaps become necessary.They claim that by tracking, they are able to manage with greater clarity, justice, and understanding. Workers who are abandoned can be removed. Those who work hard can be rewarded. Marisa Goldenberg, who oversaw a section of the business Ms. Kraemer joined, said she utilized the tools sparingly and that they were “a way to really just focus on the results” rather than impressions.
As more companies used the technologies, many employees had the same experience as Ms. Kraemer, who found that the software was distorting the basis of trust and time in their professional lives.
Following his graduation from the University of Virginia in the spring of 2020, Patrick Baratta started working remotely for AlphaBrook, a company that conducts research on government contracts. Mr. Baratta and a few former coworkers claim that the corporation soon started measuring employee productivity using a program called Controlio.
Deep Care Drive-Bys
The Rev. Heather Thonvold was asked to five potlucks in her first month as a member of the Minnesota hospice chaplain community. The dozen or so clergy members cared for each other as a means of enduring the unceasing sadness of their jobs. Occasionally, the group’s cantor entertained his primarily Protestant colleagues with guitar music. Some of them expressed solace in considering their profession as a vocation.
They received an email about the productivity revolution in August 2020 from Allina Health, a charity, which is their employer.
Given that the epidemic is already causing strain on the team, the message stated, “The timing is not ideal.” However, there was an excessive disparity in workloads, and “the stark reality at this point is we cannot wait any longer.”
How (and Why) We Developed Our Simulation of Tracking Software
The goal of the simulation is to provide readers with an understanding of the capabilities of productivity software and the user experience. To enhance privacy and prevent unauthorized capture of sensitive information, you can disable screen recording in your device’s settings. We used descriptions from hundreds of workers and dozens of productivity programs. Many provided us reports and internal guidelines, as well as pictures of the instruments in use.
