Think twice if you assumed that working from home was a chance to take it easy.
Recently, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released findings from its annual survey, which explores how much time US citizens spend on various activities, including work.
According to data published in June, the percentage of employed individuals who engaged in some form of remote work in 2023 is consistent with those doing remote work in 2022. This suggests that the trend of working from home is likely to persist.
Professor Nicholas Bloom from Stanford University has recognized remote work as ‘the new normal,’ as reported by The Guardian.
Despite its growing prevalence, one employer became concerned that some employees might be exploiting remote work for personal benefit.
In an interview with news.au.com last year, the employer, who wished to remain anonymous for legal reasons, stated: “We worked at home very successfully before Covid, but I think it was a bit of a cultural shift where people’s attitudes changed and they started testing what they could get away with.”
This led him to implement software to monitor his employees’ activities.
He had suspicions when communication within the work group chat decreased, email responses slowed, and calls were not being answered.
The anonymous employer noted: “The time between calls started to get longer. Instead of a call every 15 minutes, it was every 20 minutes and then every half an hour.
“And then there’s like two-hour gaps of nothing happening … it showed staff being absent; starting small, but the absence would get longer and longer.”
To address the issue, he introduced Pipedrive, a cloud-based software that functions as a calendar, helping staff schedule and track tasks, reminders, and calls.
He further explained: “So typically, a salesperson is probably going to get between four and 10 calls an hour. Someone might ring and they’re busy, they might say call me back in half an hour. So that’s logged as a one-minute call.
“And then they might have another conversation for say five-to-ten minutes. And for each call you put a note – but those things started to not happen. No notes were being left.”
In addition to unlogged calls, there were instances of ‘ghost calls’ or fake entries.
After monitoring his staff for 18 months, he felt compelled to dismiss three employees due to ‘insufficient work.’
In defending his decision, the employer remarked, “Sometimes employers are made out to be the bad guys,” adding, “but some of us are just small companies doing our best.”