re: Can my company see how long I’m active on my computer as a remote employee

More than likely they can see when you are logged in. And if they had a reason they can look at what you are doing.

Nice knowing you. HR will request to see you first. As a woman you have some advantages though.

What you want is a mouse jiggler. I have that has a delay you can set - say 5 mins and then it moves your mouse around.

Hey boss

I use one because my company has an asinine timeout set on the screen so if I answer the phone for a minute, or consult some documentation, boom I have to re-enter my password again. It gets old very quickly.

This thing keeps me logged in and I don’t have to type my password 15 times a day.

LINK

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But I’d guess in most cases, if they’re looking at you, you’re probably already gone.

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unless you work for the government

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Just curious if they can see what I’m doing and when I’m working.

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It depends on how badly they want to see it. There's software out there that can track every keystroke and mouseclick and timestamps all of it. They can see what sites you're going to, what spreadsheets you're looking at, etc.

Some software only works if you're VPN'd in, others work regardless of if you are VPN'd in or even on the internet at all (those save the data locally then upload it the next time you connect to your network or go online).

The thing is, this software costs money to buy/subscribe and maintain. It also costs time and money to have someone monitoring it. In my experience, those who have this software usually end up restricting monitoring to those employees whose supervisors have requested the data. Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of management types who just love to play Work Police and/or be micro-managers with their remote employees, it's just that eventually they tend to get shut down by IT or HR for making it a quasi-harassment issue.

The bottom line is that it's going to depend on the company you work for, the management and your productivity (the more often you are getting your job done on time/early, the less likely you are to attract such attention unless you work for micro-management types).

Tip for all you slackers. If you just need your work computer to stay active do the following:

1. Open powerpoint and start a blank slide.

2. Go to "Slideshow" menu at top

3. Present slideshow.

4. Take a nap.

If your preseneting a slideshow your pc will not lock or go to sleep. It just sits there.

Your welcome.

The question that no one has asked but is vital: how big is the company you work for and how tech savvy do you find them to be?

“I’m way more productive when I work from home”

We can all see you Beth!

Same here. We use SAP and it logs and keys everything.

If people just f'n worked instead of trying to game the system, we wouldn't have to have this conversation