Monitoring software has become more common since the pandemic – but are activity scores the best way to measure productivity?
Every 10 minutes, Mae’s computer snaps a shot of her screen, thanks to monitoring software her employer made her install on her laptop. A figure looms large over her workday: her activity score, a percentage calculated by the arbitrary measure of how much she types and moves her mouse.
It’s hovering at about 62% when we speak. “That’s quite good. If I’m on a Zoom call that counts as 0% [activity], even though I’m in a meeting,” she explains, adding that she watches videos and attends calls regularly as part of her role.
More Stories
Sweden warns of heightened risk of Russian sabotage
Human brain can process certain sentences in ‘blink of an eye’, says study
Long-extinct animals could be resurrected as robots to shed light on evolution