I work in the US. On Friday, my Manager sent an email to employees in my department and requested we complete a task tracker for one week. We are to write down the tasks we complete and the time frame we did the task. I don't understand what is the purpose of this. Everyone was told and knows what is their job. The request makes me uncomfortable because it feels luke I am being monitored when I already work hard. Would I be out of line to ask what is the purpose of it or what is the problem why a task tracker is needed?
asked Mar 19, 2023 at 23:19
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2VTC - there's a tonne of reasons (both good and bad) why such a request could be made, we can't cover off all of them and the ones we can cover off are going to be wildly opinion based.– TheDemonLordCommented Mar 19, 2023 at 23:32
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Thank you. I would luke to know the bad reasons so I can be prepared. I feel I work really hard. It makes me uncomfortable that I am now being monitored.– DiligentWorker25Commented Mar 19, 2023 at 23:40
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1How will knowing why help? What does it matter if it's "so we can give bonuses to people who work fast" or "so we can fire people who are slow" or "so we know which skills to look for when we next hire someone" or "so we can decide what software to commission (or update) to save the most time" or any of a thousand other reasons? Are you going to lie in this tracker if someone on the internet comes up with a plausible guess? Or are you just going to keep doing a good job and working hard?– Kate GregoryCommented Mar 20, 2023 at 0:11
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It just makes me feel like the manager doesn't trust what we are doing. I have no intention of lieing. Every minute of my every working hour is occupied. I do my work. I guess her requesting this comes across to me that there is a problem and that makes me uncomfortable. Maybe they ate looking to get rid of people.– DiligentWorker25Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 0:24
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1It can be as simple as the manager wants to know how many other departments are requesting "advice" outside of projects (which usually means that time is not counted...)– Solar MikeCommented Mar 20, 2023 at 9:57
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2 Answers
We are to write down the tasks we complete and the time frame we did the task.
That seems to be a pretty normal activity in many industries.
For example, in software development, software engineers do have to keep track of how many hours they spend on each specific task. There are many softwares such as Jira,... to do that. The software and process will also keep track of other things such as which issues are being worked on, or not yet. Software companies can't function well without this kind of task-tracking tools.
Maybe, your manager is trying test this software/process to see if it improves the team productivity or not. If it works, he/she may want to use it more frequently. If it does not work well, this process will be dropped after 1 week.
In addition, the tracking software may also be used as a tool to evaluate the performance of a worker for promotion purpose down the road.
answered Mar 20, 2023 at 0:40
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So you think doing this activity may make employees more productive? Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 0:46
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1@DiligentWorker25, It may improve the productivity of the company as a whole. Each team members already knows how many hours he spends on each task. But, a manager of 10 team members will have a hard time to keep track of the time each member spends on which tasks. So, it will be easier for the manager to use a software that quickly reports to him how many hours are spent on a specific task, or which task is being worked on and is not assigned to anyone. This way, a manager can quickly get the most critical info and monitor the team activity, and then report any outstanding issue to his boss. Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 1:19
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1@DiligentWorker25, I know that this activity unfortunately will require each worker to spend additional time to enter their time spent for a task in the software. But, it will likely help the manager to get the big picture of the progress of the whole team. So, that is probably the reason your manager wants to try it for at least 1 week Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 2:20
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1Tracking also helps in determining how accurate estimates are, and can help them become more accurate. Commented Mar 20, 2023 at 16:33
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@DiligentWorker25 You "working very hard" is not necessarily the same thing as being productive. If you worked on a project that was cancelled, it isn't productive, no matter how hard you worked on it. Two people doing duplicate tasks are also not very productive, even though they both worked very hard on it.– NelsonCommented Apr 17, 2023 at 2:06
Job tracking is standard in many companies, it serves several purposes.
It gives people including yourself a record of what has been accomplished and timeframes, which can then be utilised in various ways by both management and workers.
Importantly it also leaves an itemised paper trail which is useful if there are any disputes or queries. This is especially useful if your manager needs to account for time spent on things like internal projects for other departments versus billable time to clients.
What in particular your manager is trying to accomplish is unknown, but job tracking is very useful and mandatory in many places.
