Pay no attention to that widget recording your every move
Ever wonder how much of a time suck Bejeweled is? Or how often your legitimate work-related research on the Web deteriorates into recreational browsing? Now there is software that will tell not only you, but also your boss and your coworkers.
We're not talking about secretive spying software, though there is plenty of that for employers to use. No, there's a new breed of corporate monitoring software that watches what employees do during the workday - without being stealthy. These in-your-face widgets report just how much or how little you're getting done.
Most people who try out the software are shocked, says Joe Hruska, CEO and co-founder of RescueTime, which makes such monitoring software. "It's very surprising to people how little, on average, gets done that's productive during an eight-hour workday," he says. "If you're doing four to five hours of productive work on a computer, you're in the top percentile. It is pretty rare that we see anybody go over five hours a day of productive time on a computer."
