Jon StojanRemote work is here to stay. Despite the efforts of some employers to force employees to return to the office, the genie is already out of the bottle. Remote and hybrid work setups have expanded the available talent pool and improved work-life balance, reduced absenteeism, and decreased turnover of employees.
However, remote work also has a dark side, as it has been blamed for the rise of the ‘quiet quitting’ phenomenon, where employees disengage and do only the bare minimum tasks to avoid getting fired. Some employees also think that not having a manager directly observing them gives them the opportunity to shirk their work responsibilities. A major financial institution recently fired several workers after they were found faking keyboard and mouse activity on their computers to give supervisors the impression that they were working when they actually weren’t.
To ensure that employees working from home are doing their jobs, some employers resort to using monitoring software, also called ‘bossware’, on work computers, which detect whether the device is being used. In order to fool their employers, some employees use devices known as mouse jiggers, which can be easily bought online, to move the mouse cursor and prevent it from being detected idling.
According to Mark Parinas, founder and CEO of California-based software development company CuraeSoft, this reflects the lack of trust, transparency, and accountability in the prevailing surveillance-based hybrid and remote work setups of many companies today. This results in a vicious cycle where employers try to clamp down while employees find new ways to outsmart their bosses. This creates a negative, fear-based company culture and demotivates employees, leading to poorer business performance.
CuraeSoft’s flagship product is coAmplifi, a workforce management software platform that creates an environment of acceptance, accountability, flexibility, and productivity through its various modular features. One of coAmplifi’s most powerful functions is the Virtual Operating Headquarters (VOHQ), allowing organizations to manage all their operations from a single platform, even with a distributed workforce. It enables organizations to clearly define their objectives, strategies, and tactics, drilling down into specific projects and clearly delineated deliverables assigned to a particular employee. It also includes a suite of collaboration tools that allows team members in different locations to perform their work seamlessly.
According to Parinas, this allows employees to showcase what they’re working on, what they’ve delivered, and what other tasks they have in their pipeline. Managers can easily track the progress of each deliverable and how it contributes to the company’s overarching objectives. This prevents employees from claiming that they are working, even if they aren’t, and removes the incentive for employers to use invasive, surveillance-based bossware. Furthermore, this fosters a culture of accountability, which is even more important in a remote or hybrid workplace.
In an accountability-based system, unprofessional employees who are weighing down their organization will not thrive, but the responsible and professional ones will be able to enjoy their freedom and the many benefits of working hybrid or remotely.
Aside from distributed workforces, coAmplifi’s VOHQ functionalities can also benefit on-site operations, as it reduces the need for managers to hover around from cubicle to cubicle, just to see if work is getting done. Without micromanagement, employees can be more relaxed, creative, and more motivated to do their work. Having a VOHQ system in place can also help organizations cope with sudden changes in working arrangement, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic when everyone was suddenly required to work from home.
Parinas believes that ‘quiet quitting’ and faking work are incredibly damaging to an organization, not just for the business’ finances, but also to the workforce’s morale. He adds that, in the case of the financial institution, even if they fired the employees, it is already too late.
“In a situation like this, the biggest damage to the organization is to its morale,” Parinas says. “While the non-contributing employees were removed, it also affected the employees who remained, as they may think that they could be next. It also breeds distrust, because employees don’t know whether their peers are actually working and pulling their own weight. Whereas, in an accountability-based system such as coAmplifi’s, both employees and employers have assurance that everyone is working and contributing value to the organization, creating a healthier culture for everyone.”