This is a big no-no.
Working from home can be stressful in its own way. While you no longer have to battle rush hour traffic, you’ll encounter problems you never would have thought about while working from the comfort of your home. One such problem was originally shared on Facebook but later taken down. It was however captured and shared on Twitter by @omarqe.
Long story short, the employee was lamenting the fact that he no longer had privacy to do even the most basic and natural human of activities (such as going to the toilet or having his lunch) as his company was using an application to track if his computer mouse was moving or not. If it wasn’t (moving), the system would simply assume that he wasn’t working. What’s worse is that the system would then calculate the time that the mouse was idle and deduct it from his 8-hour shift in a day.
Ada kawan kongsi satu post di Facebook, syarikat orang tu micromanage pekerja dia dengan skrinshot skrin selang beberapa minit!
Kalau tengah chat dengan wife pun bos boleh baca. This is a critical invasion of privacy.
Memang dah tak ada tools lain dah nak monitor pekerja?
— Omar ???? (@omarqe) June 18, 2021
“Even if you’re chatting with your wife, the boss can read it. This is a critical invasion of privacy.”
@omarqe continued to empathize with the employee.
Memang sangat toxic culture macamni.
Dan sangat membimbangkan kalau diorang masih monitor walaupun di luar waktu bekerja (if it’s possible).
Gila!
— Omar ???? (@omarqe) June 18, 2021
“This is a very toxic culture. And very worrying if they’re still monitoring (him) even outside working hours (if it’s possible). Crazy!”
The photos in the Facebook post (that has now been removed) show a bit about how the system monitors the user.
The employee ended his rant by saying, “I’ve lost my passion to work.” Following the post going viral, he updated readers on the status of the situation, saying that he has been blocked from accessing the company’s tools and the subject matter would be investigated.
Other netizens were grateful that the employee exposed the toxic culture.
This a form of a heavy micromanagement though that some Management love to pass as ‘monitoring & tracking productivity’.
I don’t ever think I can work in such a toxic environment. Unfortunately not everyone has that choice.
Pretty glad this is exposed.
— ZaraV (@ZaraVendetta) June 18, 2021
We hope that a solution would be put forth to such a dire issue. It truly would be a loss – for both the individual, who has so much potential for growth and progress as well as the company, who would be losing out on a hardworking, creative employee – if one were to lose one’s passion for work because of toxic cultures and practices.
*Cover Image Credits: Facebook