A lot of employers feel the need to surveil you to make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing.

It’s a hard habit to break, I guess, even though more and more companies are allowing their employees to work from home.

But this particular case of surveillance cancelled itself out in the most satisfying way.

See it unfold for yourself.

How will you know if I’m working? Oh, You’ll Know

My new field manager said “If you’re not in the office where I can see you, how will I know you’re working?

You could be doing anything you want and I’d never know.”

I offered to have my task tracking app send her an email whenever I accomplished a task. She agreed.

So things begin to speak for themselves.

The thing is that I’m a fast worker.

I create backlogs and coworkers don’t like it because it makes their performance pale in comparison.

So I didn’t disclose to her how fast I am.

Then trust enters the picture and so does something else.

After 3 days of hundreds of emails a day notifying her the second I completed a task, my boss decided that she actually didn’t need to know whether I was working or not.

We became good friends after that because we realized we had a lot in common.

Here’s what folks had to say.

It’s refreshing. I like when things work out peacefully.

A very good tip. No drama!

Good point. Productivity has many faces.

And not measuring outcomes. Bums in seats is not a metric either.

Interesting. Walk with purpose!

I want more stories about these two!

There are bound to be a few…

If you liked that story, check out this post about a group of employees who got together and why working from home was a good financial decision.