I remember looking at this when I last looked for a new job. The landing page is very cool, the environment sounds great. Pay is lower than US but at this point in life it's not my #1 consideration. I was ready to apply.
And then I read about the company requiring a spy app doing logging and regular snapshots. This seems so antithetical to everything else in your policy book (and a hard stop for me). Just curious, what is the reason for using it?
Upwork/oDesk has a similar system. In these apps, the hours are only billed when you have activity in front of the computer (moving mouse and pressing keys).
I suspect the purpose is the same as platforms like Upwork use it: to ensure they pay only for time you are moving the mouse or typing something. Time away from the computer (but where you could also be thinking about work) is not billed.
Since few people can stay 8 hours in front of the computer programming (even if working full time) , they hire you as a full time but only pay part time salary.
Thanks for your comment. We understand that productive work isn’t limited to keyboard or mouse activity. Meetings, brainstorming sessions, or time spent problem-solving all count as billable hours and are accounted for accordingly in Hubstaff.
Agreed. But what I meant is not the literal "what does typing trackers find" but a higher level surprise, as this type of tracking will scare away precisely the people they want to hire: senior python developers who can work autonomously in a remote-first culture. My 2c.
Funny thing is that it is trivial to fool these apps by using scripts which interact with the computer/VM automatically, so they will not only scare away good developers, it is likely they are creating incentives for the kind of people who would cheat the system.
Thanks for your comment. As I wrote in another reply: The screenshot feature is enabled to allow team members to review their past activities for accurate tracking. Beyond that specific use, we don't review screenshots. We considered building an internal solution where screenshots would be stored locally, but ultimately decided Hubstaff meets our needs.
Thanks for sharing your concerns. I'd like to clarify our approach to work hours and Hubstaff usage.
We pay full-time or part-time salaries based on an employee’s agreed-upon schedule and ensure compensation is fair and accurate.
We use Hubstaff primarily to track work across different clients and projects. The screenshot feature is enabled to allow team members to review their past activities for accurate tracking. Beyond that specific use, we don't review screenshots. We considered building an internal solution where screenshots would be stored locally, but ultimately decided Hubstaff meets our needs.
We also understand that valuable work isn't just about keyboard or mouse activity. Meetings, brainstorming, and time spent solving problems all count as billable hours, which we track through Hubstaff.
We're committed to a remote-first culture that empowers all team members and value open discussions about our practices.
And then I read about the company requiring a spy app doing logging and regular snapshots. This seems so antithetical to everything else in your policy book (and a hard stop for me). Just curious, what is the reason for using it?