Remote Working Means The Rise Of Productivity-Tracking Tattleware

Productivity software can track your emails, phone calls and meetings – and tattle to your boss

- João Medeiros

IN MAY 2020, Prodoscore, a California-based productivity software startup, reported that, based on internal data collected from its 30 000 users, remote working during the coronavirus pandemic was making workers more productive. They’d noticed a 57% increase in the volume of email correspondence and a 230% increase in time spent on phone calls, but a 22% drop in accessing calendar apps, implying that fewer meetings – a notorious productivity killer – were taking place.

Prodoscore is part of a new wave of productivity tools, informally known as “tattleware”, that enable managers to monitor and time-track their employees’ activities while working remotely. Research consultancy firm Gartner estimates that by the end of 2020, 80% of companies will be using monitoring tools to keep tabs on their employees, including their emails, social media messages and biometric data. These apps use these digital traces to create a profile of individual productivity.