'My screen was idle for 28 minutes': New manager accuses highest performer of being unproductive because of failed "screen audit"

Brad Dickson • Managing Editor

Dec 6, 2023 7:00 AM EST

There's nothing like hustling to go above and beyond in your role only to have your new boss turn around and throw some random metric that is vaguely associated with productivity back in your face for no reason. Your KPIs and contributions that are tied to actual revenue for the company are topping the charts, and yet your insecure micromanaging manager is concerned about the fact that your screen was "idle" for a few minutes. This is the problem with modern "productivity" tracking software that tracks employee activity: twiddling your mouse around more often than your coworkers has no bearing on your actual contribution to the company. This, for some reason, is something that a lot of corporate managers have trouble logically reasoning—probably cause they're not doing any actual work anyway—so, to them, moving their mouse on the screen is productive.

As commenters in this voracious discussion have already mentioned, without a doubt, this new manager is trying to make an example of their top performer in order to set a precedence of authority with their team. See the author's original post and the discussion that followed below.