Remotely check PC startup/shutdown times

pitchfork · 5 Jun 2014 at 12:55

Please feel free to suggest one.

Tell them if they do good they will be rewarded, if they mess about they'll soon find the door.

I think that's page 1 on the "basic management pep talks" book. Nothing annoys workers more than being forced into doing something needless by some prat who doesn't work on the front line.

Neodite · 5 Jun 2014 at 12:56

If you want them to be sat at the PC with it fully booted and ready to take calls at 9am. Dont you think the start time should be BEFORE 9am?

[TW]Fox · 5 Jun 2014 at 12:58

Russinating said:
Is every company that has a clocking in system 'petty'?

If it's office based rather than production-focused or shift-work then yes, IMHO.

Your staff member should be getting into work for 9am because they know they need to be there to answer the phone when you open not because they think the boss is logging the time the computer switches on. Give people the credit they deserve until they give you a reason to think otherwise.

You don't need to call them every day, a few 'reasons to call' at 9am over a few weeks will soon convey the impression that anyone could ring at 9am and they'd better make sure they are there to answer it.

'I've called a few times to sort something out and found nobody in' is a far better conversation to be having if they are proving to give you problems than 'My remote logging system says you logged in at 09:04!111111'.

Every day millions of people are sitting at desks when the office opens and the calls start coming in for reasons other than the boss is spying on them.

antijoke · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:00

And besides what if they answer the phone at 9am and do not boot the machine up until that 10 minute conversation ended........and anyway who even shuts down machines?

I'd be employee of the month.

Russinating · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:01

Love all the people chipping in despite knowing nothing about us, what we do or who we employ.

anticonscience said:
What time do you state they should be in the office at the moment?

Maybe request the working hours 08:45 until finish time, to give the best possible chances of being in the office ready for the 9am start. Obviously this is a little more difficult if you have recruited the new person and already stipulated working hours.

Granted you do not wish to miss calls, who would, do you/have you thought about an answering machine? Not ideal but will avoid missed calls. And avoids the spying on the member of staff.

Hours are 9-5 but we ask that they're "in" at 5 to so they've got time to get things turned on, put the kettle in, etc. No different to any other job.

pitchfork said:
Tell them if they do good they will be rewarded, if they mess about they'll soon find the door.

I think that's page 1 on the "basic management pep talks" book. Nothing annoys workers more than being forced into doing something needless by some prat who doesn't work on the front line.

Just out of interest, how would you find out if they were "messing about" (ie 10 minutes late) when they're the only person in the office?

And how is being in work on time needless? And don't insinuate that I'm a prat. If you can't provide a solution or at least something constructive then don't bother posting.

Neodite said:
If you want them to be sat at the PC with it fully booted and ready to take calls at 9am. Dont you think the start time should be BEFORE 9am?

In what job can you turn up at 08:59:59 and be fully and functionally working 1 second later? :confused:

It takes longer than that to walk through the door and it goes without saying.

Russinating · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:03

[TW]Fox;26407237 said:
If it's office based rather than production-focused or shift-work then yes, IMHO.

Your staff member should be getting into work for 9am because they know they need to be there to answer the phone when you open not because they think the boss is logging the time the computer switches on. Give people the credit they deserve until they give you a reason to think otherwise.

You don't need to call them every day, a few 'reasons to call' at 9am over a few weeks will soon convey the impression that anyone could ring at 9am and they'd better make sure they are there to answer it.

'I've called a few times to sort something out and found nobody in' is a far better conversation to be having if they are proving to give you problems than 'My remote logging system says you logged in at 09:04!111111'.

Every day millions of people are sitting at desks when the office opens and the calls start coming in for reasons other than the boss is spying on them.

I'm not saying the reason they think they should be in is because of a boot up logger? :confused:

If we're out for 3 days a week then it's a way of making sure they're not taking the **** over the course of a couple of weeks. And calling up every day at 9am is neither feasible nor have any fake use to it.

And how many millions of those people are the only people in that office, and aren't a director? Not many, I'd think.

Neodite · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:08

Russinating said:
Hours are 9-5 but we ask that they're "in" at 5 to so they've got time to get things turned on, put the kettle in, etc. No different to any other job.

So you do not pay him/her the 10mins + you want them to be at work for before the shift starts?

Yes, that is different to any other job.

[TW]Fox · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:08

Russinating said:
I'm not saying the reason they think they should be in is because of a boot up logger? If we're out for 3 days a week then it's a way of making sure they're not taking the **** over the course of a couple of weeks. And calling up every day at 9am is neither feasible nor have any fake use to it.

Nobody has suggested you call daily. You'll soon be able to work out whether you can trust them, and if you can, you probably won't need to call at all!

You seem very paranoid about this one person taking the ****. Have they a history of doing this? Are they giving you the impression they might? If not, why worry about it before you even know if its an issue?

This sounds quite typical of very small organisations with one or two owner/directors and few staff. The ethos tends to be only they can be trusted, only they know anything, everyone else is a threat to their 'baby' and any hint of criticism/alternative suggestions are met with aggression or 'YOU DONT TELL ME' etc. I'm not saying thats you but it's how you come across unfortunately.

Just chill, 95% of people you emply will be hard working, diligent and will instinctively know they need to be ready at 9am.

topshot · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:11

Can you not just setup an intranet page with a sign in/out box? either that or just ask them to start at 8.45, then if they run late by a few mins they should still be in for 9am.

As above though it does sound like a horrible place to work.

antijoke · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:11

Russinating said:
Love all the people chipping in despite knowing nothing about us, what we do or who we employ.

Hours are 9-5 but we ask that they're "in" at 5 to so they've got time to get things turned on, put the kettle in, etc. No different to any other job.

Just out of interest, how would you find out if they were "messing about" (ie 10 minutes late) when they're the only person in the office?

And how is being in work on time needless? And don't insinuate that I'm a prat. If you can't provide a solution or at least something constructive then don't bother posting.

In what job can you turn up at 08:59:59 and be fully and functionally working 1 second later? It takes longer than that to walk through the door and it goes without saying.

This does seem to be a case of once bitten twice shy.

In my previous job in a telecoms company you were expected to be in the office 15 minutes prior to 9am to start work, this gave you time to get in, have a coffee, have a chat with other staff etc and get settled. I don't see why you don't go down this route first. Give them an opportunity to prove they are trustworthy.

Another thing that field sales people had to do was call the sales director in the morning, why not get them to call you first thing to just let you know they got in safe, are OK and there are no problems, takes 30 seconds and you can come across as a thoughtful boss.

I appreciate you want to know they are not messing around whilst you are not there, but there is no real way to show this without you going to extremes when you should be able to trust your employees.

It's for them to prove you shouldn't trust them. Lighten up a bit dude.

Tuppy_Glossop · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:12

You can use Microsoft's Event Viewer remotely if you have admin priviledge. It has boot up and shut down times but won't tell you about mouse activity.

topshot · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:16

No good if they leave the PC on all night.

Russinating · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:30

anticonscience said:
It's for them to prove you shouldn't trust them. Lighten up a bit dude.

I wasn't stressed until people started jumping on the bandwagon and calling me a prat

. This was just supposed to be a quick and easy way to quickly and easily check!

We've only ever employed two people (same role), and because we have such a relaxed and fun working environment generally both of them misconstrued that as being able to turn up late (which was never said, and was always corrected when it happened). But it is of course a concern when we're out of the office so much and they're the only person in here working on their own.

antijoke · 5 Jun 2014 at 13:33

Well that sucks that you have been taken advantage of, twice, it is a fine balance between having a laid back environment and ruling with an iron fist.

gambitt · 5 Jun 2014 at 14:01

I've worked in both laid back and iron fist environments. Team morale was obviously lower in the latter and the turn over of staff was much higher so they were constantly interviewing new people, but I suppose that gave the busy body managers something with which to justify their jobs.

Dup · 5 Jun 2014 at 14:11

Serious answer:

https://www.rescuetime.com/

Russinating · 5 Jun 2014 at 14:15

Dup said:
Serious answer:

https://www.rescuetime.com/

Looks good, thank you. Might even use it myself!

rodenal · 5 Jun 2014 at 14:59

Slightly off topic but I actually find our clocking (suppose booking is more accurate) system really useful as it lets me see exactly what i've done in terms of hours, to which project, how much i've worked from home (if at all) or other sites over a set period etc.

It's primarily there because of the size of the organisation and the way we charge our customers, so allows easy collation of hours / tracking between jobs etc. If used to track exactly who has clocked in or out at 5 minutes past 7/8/9 in a smaller organisation you'll probably just find people start to play the system very quickly or learn to resent it.

lurkio · 5 Jun 2014 at 15:42

Time taken to get PC up and running to allow user to use the PC ,
solution leave PC's on 24 hours a day

Want then to come in before 9 so they can be ready to deal with calls etc at 9 ,
solution change their working hours and pay them more money for the extra time

Most companies I have worked in (salary based not paid per hour) have used a clocking in system to allow staff and management to keep track of their time keeping

Hades · 5 Jun 2014 at 16:14

Russinating said:
Completely agree, and not interested in key logging or screen monitoring at all.

Yeah, because that's feasible and less obtrusive. "HAY ARE YOU IN WORK YET?!". And you know nothing about "our place".

Just put her phone down when it's picked up.

I know very little about your place other than the fact you want to track employees every keypress and presence at their computer. That's enough for me to know thank you.