Working from home was once seen as a perk. For some employees, it has now become a battleground over privacy, productivity and how much an employer should be allowed to monitor them.John Morgan, founder of the US personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan, has sparked a fresh debate after defending his company’s stringent monitoring of employees who choose to work remotely. The billionaire attorney said the policy was introduced after employees resisted returning to the office- but the measures came at a cost, with 23 people reportedly quitting within a week. Morgan discussed the issue during an August 27 episode of The Iced Coffee Hour podcast, as reported by People.
‘They don’t want to work’
Morgan, 70, said his experience with employees working remotely had convinced him that the issue was not simply about where people worked. “We’re living in a world where there’s a lot of people that just don’t want to work,” he said, according to People.He said employees at his firm did not want to return to the office, prompting the company to offer them the option of continuing to work from home- but with much closer monitoring. The proposal was blunt.“Here’s what we’re going to do. You can work from home, but guess what? We’re going to put a camera on your computer. We’re going to put a camera up your a**,” Morgan said.He explained that the company would not necessarily be watching employees directly through the camera. “We won’t look at you. It’ll be a pixel,” he recalled telling them. The response was immediate. Morgan said 23 employees left the company during the first week after the policy was introduced.
Camera monitoring and keystroke tracking
The monitoring did not stop with cameras. Morgan said employees who continued working remotely would be subject to closer scrutiny, including productivity tracking based on computer activity.“We’re going to have a camera on you,” he said, adding that the company would be “monitoring you closer than we would” employees working in the office. He also referred to an “incredible” productivity score that tracks keystrokes.The approach has drawn criticism because it raises a larger question confronting workplaces everywhere: where does legitimate performance monitoring end and employee surveillance begin?Morgan, however, rejected the idea that the company’s policy was simply invasive. He argued that employees who were unhappy with the system should look at their own work habits instead.“They really need to be pissed off at themselves,” he said, according to People.
‘They want to be paid to work from home’
Morgan had previously discussed the issue on the Success Story podcast, where he defended the company’s use of cameras and productivity-tracking measures. He said some departing employees had described the policy as invasive. Morgan disagreed, arguing that the real problem was accountability. “They didn’t want to be accountable,” he said, adding that some employees were unwilling to work but still wanted to be paid while working remotely.At the same time, Morgan acknowledged that working from home can work for certain employees. “Look, there are people that I have no problem working from home because there are certain people that, you know, they’re going to work from home,” he said. But he added that such employees were “very few”.
The bigger remote-work debate
Morgan’s comments come as companies continue to grapple with how much flexibility employees should have after remote and hybrid working became widespread.For workers, remote work can mean less commuting and greater control over their schedules. For employers, it can create concerns about collaboration, accountability and whether employees are putting in the same effort outside the office.