A billionaire law firm owner recently explained how he handled employees who didn't want to come back to the office. He let them stay home, but only if he could put a camera on their computer to track them. Twenty-three people quit in the first week. He called it a win.
Two Ways To Read The Same Story
He says those 23 people were lazy and didn't want to work. I watched the same clip and saw something else. People don't usually walk away from a paycheck over nothing. They walk away when they stop feeling trusted to do the job they were hired for.
Tracking activity instead of results usually says more about the manager than the employee.
What This Actually Costs You
Surveillance like this doesn't filter out your weak performers. It filters out the employees who have options. Your best people are the ones most likely to leave, because they're the ones who can walk into another job the same week.
What To Do Instead
Measure output, not hours. If someone is hitting their numbers, their screen activity shouldn't be part of the conversation.
Set expectations, not surveillance. Clear goals and regular check-ins build more accountability than any tracking software.
Ask why performance is slipping before you assume it's effort. Most performance problems come from unclear priorities, not laziness.
If you're leading a remote or hybrid team and you're not sure whether your policies are building trust or burning it, that's exactly the kind of thing a fractional HR partner should be looking at with you.
Not sure if your management practices are helping or hurting retention?