Boss pushes for 'virtual office' that pings management when you're idle: 'How do I push back without sounding shady?'

Author image for JR Atkinson
JR Atkinson • Writer and Editor
Jun 21, 2026 10:00 AM EDT

Should you expect to be constantly monitored at work?

Surveillance is a huge part of our world these days. Our lives have been taken over by technology, and there is not a lot we can do about it, except choose how we engage with it. But we don't really get to choose how we engage with it at work. Our bosses and higher-ups tend to choose the programs and platforms we're engaging with at our places of work. Things are moving at a rapid pace, though, and new technologies are being introduced all the time. That's what was happening to one worker, who shared their story on the antiwork subreddit. Their boss wanted a new way to keep track of their employee's performance. This is a somewhat natural thing to want, but we have to question the modes and methods how it came about. We don't have to just accept everything wholesale, we can stand up for what we want and what we need. That's what this employee was trying to do, when their boss came to them with a new idea for tracking productivity. But from the employee's point of view, it was needless surveillance. You don't want to be watched when it's not worth it. Everyone has a different way of doing their job, and it's not always going to look like you're wholly productive all the time. It's not good to be constantly interrupted when you're trying to do something. You need peace and quiet. 

Advertisement
  • Cheezburger Image 10639697408
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A woman rubs her temples at her desk

  • My team wants a 'virtual office' app that pings when you're idle. How do I push back without sounding shady?

    I'm fully remote in California. Our company is small and used to be pretty chill about async work, but leadership has gotten nervous after the usual headlines about remote productivity and now they're talking about a 'virtual office' app.
    via Nice-Anteater-2866
  • The idea is to keep an app running all day that shows a status like active, away, or in a call, and that nudges you if you are idle for too long. Some versions also have 'rooms' you can join so people can drop in like an office.
    via Nice-Anteater-2866
  • I get why they want more visibility, but to me this feels like productivity theater. I do real work in chunks. Sometimes I'm heads down reading or sketching on paper. Sometimes I pick up my phone for five minutes while thinking through a bug. Sometimes I step away to throw a load of laundry in. None of that means I'm not working, but an idle timer will make it look like I'm slacking.
    via Nice-Anteater-2866
  • I'm also wary as a techy iPhone user of another always-on app with a vague data policy, and I really dislike the free trial then surprise subscription pattern these tools tend to have. If you've handled this, what arguments actually landed? I'm looking for concrete framing, like:
    via Nice-Anteater-2866
  • - Metrics or outputs we can use instead of presence - Team norms that keep people responsive without feeling surveilled
    via Nice-Anteater-2866
  • - Reasonable compromises, for example core overlap hours or a brief daily async check-in I want to push back on principle, but I don't want to come off like I'm hiding something.
    via Nice-Anteater-2866

  • That's what this employee was trying to get across to his boss, but was having a difficult time finding the right words for it. You have to be careful about the way you give feedback in the workplace, because you never know if it's going to come back to bite you. Scroll on to see what commenters had to say and then let us know your opinion in the comments. It's never easy to speak your mind to your boss, but sometimes it's absolutely worth it. 

  • Cheezburger Image 10639697664
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A stressed woman sits at her desk

  • Promotion|||9174 I've been through this exact conversation with my team actually. What worked for me was proposing we track actual deliverables instead - like sprint completion rates, bug resolution times, that kind of thing. Way more meaningful than whether I'm moving my mouse every 5 minutes
    via Promotion|||9174
  • Also suggested we do quick async standups in our chat instead of the always-on monitoring thing. People post their daily goals and blockers, takes like 2 minutes but gives leadership the visibility they're craving without the Big Brother vibes
    via Promotion|||9174
  • The subscription cost angle might help too - these apps usually run like $10-15 per person monthly, which adds up fast for small company. I pointed out we could probably get better results. just having clear expectations around response times during core hours rather than paying for fancy surveillance software
    via Promotion|||9174
  • plangelier How do you define idle? Many times I'm in meetings where I do not need to take notes unless something unexpected happens and I pick up a task. I just need a good idea of where everything is and where it's going. So in these meeting I could be sitting and just listening, am I Idle?
    via plangelier
  • There are other meetings where im just a representative and just need to be able to respond and im listening while working on something else.
    via plangelier
  • My current boss is great all she cares about is I am delivering my assigned deliverables. She realizes that some of what I do requires just thinking about how to tackle a development assignment.
    via plangelier
  • Friendly_Coconut I guess what always confused me about this is, does everyone in your team do everything entirely digitally? Because my jobs often include components that aren't 100% on the computer.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • I work in marketing and am currently hybrid at my new job, but I used to be fully remote at my previous job for 6 years.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • At both my new and old jobs, I do a lot of writing and often create drafts or outlines by hand in a notebook. I brainstorm and go through checklists that way, too.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • I also sometimes deal with print publications at my old and new jobs and might leaf through those for reference or final proofing.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • At my current job, when I'm in the office, I will often print documents, drop things off, or pick things up from other coworkers, which often involves going to the other building (we're a two- building campus and I work
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • in the smaller office). It can take 5-10 minutes to walk down the stairs, walk across the street, go up the stairs, find the appropriate office, exchange pleasantries, say some relevant work-related info, and come all the way back to my desk.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • Slack might show me as idle while I'm doing that, but it's an important part of my job.
    via Friendly_Coconut
  • Mountain_Sandwich126 We have it. And it's to create cases for rto, pips, not pass probation. I've accepted it and looking to leave, no point pushing back when the directive is to slim down staff....
    via Mountain_Sandwich126
  • DeadDirtFarm The thing is, I worked in an office for 30 years and we goofed off a lot more before we went remote. Now as a remote worker, even with the occasional load of laundry, spacing out, or
    via DeadDirtFarm
  • personal chore, I'm working a lot more during the day. Meetings are pretty much 70% of the day which results in answering emails and getting focused work done after hours.
    via DeadDirtFarm
  • Working in the office we socialized, we went to the coffee shop a couple of times a day, we took a lunch hour and went to lunch. Don't get me started on the smokers who took 15 minute smoke breaks every hour. I would say that out of a 9 hour day we worked about 6 hours.
    via DeadDirtFarm
  • floridanative The real question here is why are companies are looking for tech that a manager/supervisor should be doing? If an employee is not being productive, then the supervisor should catch it, not some monitoring software that makes sure your computer is on.
    via floridanative

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

antiwork workplace-stories toxic-workplace job bosses work coworkers working reddit story toxic-boss workplace
Scroll Down For The Next Article