The rise of remote work and, in turn, employee-monitoring software sparked a boom in mouse and keyboard jigglers and other hacks to help staffers fake computer activity—often so they can step away to do laundry or a school pickup.

Now some companies are cracking down on the subterfuge, deploying tools that can better spot the phony busywork.

What is this crap? Was this written by an angry micro managing boss who finally learned that their minions didn’t bow to their every word? 

The whole tenor of the opening paragraphs is poison. If a boss has to resort to catching workers who are using jigglers; well they’re already missing the whole point of being a leader. 

Years ago I worked with a designer who—upon being required to report activity and being monitored by a busybody manager—quit and joined my team. He had the option to change and jumped at it. He knew what many designers (and anyone in a creative field) knew; that a butt locked into a in seat doesn’t equate to quality of work. 

It’s absolutely insane to think that the movement of a mouse will get more widgets or TPS reports done. The whole thing is insane. 

I can totally see how employees would look for ways around this, anything to push off the tyranny of tiny mindsets roving the office and looking for ways to toss around busy work. Has noone seen Office Space? Go give it a watch, I’ll wait. 

I’ve been incredibly grateful to have worked—for the most part—with teams and managers who got this. They knew that sometimes I needed to pace, sometimes I needed to think, sometimes I need to grab a notepad or iPad and start sketching; sometimes I need to go on a walk to solve a problem; and sometimes—heaven forbid!—I might need to sleep on a particularly challenging issue. These are the things that make for better creative work. 

Now; I’ll grant that some jobs aren’t that. But it’s pretty rich coming from Wells Fargo that their concerned about unethical behavior. 

(Via WSJ [Apple News])