r/technology • u/TracksandTreks • Aug 15 '26

Society Remote workers report the highest well-being in study of 7,700 employees

https://www.colorado.edu/today/2026/08/12/remote-workers-report-highest-well-being-study-7700-employees
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u/midnightauro Aug 15 '26

The mouse jugglers argument always sends me because that guy wasn’t working in the office either. The exact same proportion of people who won’t do fuck all in the office do that clownery at home too.

It’s just easier to hide in the office under the guise of meetings, quick questions, and doing tasks as slowly as possible.

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u/Couldbduun Aug 15 '26

The other side of that is why does my mouse need to be moving at all times for me to be productive? Sometimes I was just staring at maps of our infrastructure and records trying to think through a complex logistical solution to a problem a job presents. But now I've spent 10 minutes without moving my mouse and my dot turns yellow and IT is sending an idle report to my manager. I did the same thing at the office and no one cared mostly because I would find that solution and save a job from running over budget. And after the first time it happened I got a mouse jiggler and never heard about it again because my metrics that mattered were actually good.

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u/midnightauro Aug 16 '26

But now I've spent 10 minutes without moving my mouse and my dot turns yellow and IT is sending an idle report to my manager.

In response to a policy this asinine, using one makes total sense tbh.

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u/Rich_Bluejay3020 Aug 15 '26

I’ll argue that my fuck off time in the office is substantially higher than at home. At home, sure the TV is probably on in the background, but I’m doing work because it’s easier for me to focus like that and I want to do a good job so WFH will continue. Bring me into the office? I’ve gotta walk around every so often to get the blood flowing and try to spark some creativity. And on that walk, it’s almost certain that I’ll be stopped for a conversation. But that’s what the powers that be want, right? Culture and water cooler talk?

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u/notheresnolight Aug 15 '26

I use a mouse jiggler because of the brain dead security policy that locks my laptop after 5 minutes. I lock my laptop myself when I'm really going away, but when I'm getting a coffee or taking a dump, I don't want it to be locked.

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u/MikeArrow Aug 15 '26

I showed my boss a report that clearly showed that I had actioned as many cases at the rest of the team combined. Her response? "Yeah but how many of those were complex cases?" Like the basic fact is that most managers don't know or care who does the work, as long as it gets done. And the honest people get fucked because they pick up the slack.