I'm looking for a new opportunity, a job that challenges me in a few different ways, but that also yields some satisfaction at the end of the day.
I've never been shy of moving around the world. After working "from home" for over 3 years, I decided I want a job that has an office, regardless where. It can be anywhere, I wouldn't mind moving.
A bunch of interviews later, I started to freak out. While the companies that I applied so far were quite "random", all of them seemed to have a similar plan on how to "deal" with new employees. And, weirdly enough, that bothers me.
Here's what I'm talking about:
The companies that I talked to want me to work "at least for a year" from home. I need to register as self-employment, however I would work as an "actual employee", but paid according to the country I live in (assuming I live in a country where life is cheaper than where the company's HQ is). I would subject to the same rules and conditions as any other employee from their office, except the "monitoring" part.
People working "from home" need to earn their trust. In order to do so, the "hiring" company wants to keep tabs on me. What does this mean? That I have to install a premium app, called HubStaff.
While I am used to (and have nothing against) time tracking in apps like JIRA, HubStaff monitors my "input" activity: keyboard and mouse. Moreover, the app takes random screenshots of my screen(s) and sends them to my employers. Of course, the app does much more, but these 2 features is were I draw the line.
I find this kind of "monitoring" very intrusive. I take issues when I'm being "monitored" like that and I feel very uncomfortable having to work under such circumstances. Moreover, I take issues with having my location being monitored and shared, especially if my first option was to actually move to their HQs.
While one of the companies mentioned that I have to earn their trust, I can't stop but feel like they didn't earn my trust in order for me to share all these information with them. Especially since like they want me to act like a "self employed".
Are you or did you have to deal with similar circumstances at a work place? Do you / would you agree to work under such conditions or is there a place where you'd draw the line?
I'd love to hear your thoughts
Being paid based on where you're working from (what country/province that is) is not hugely unusual. In fact, I'd actually be worried about companies with people working from home that didn't do this, as it might result in tax complications for their employees.
Registering as self employed though is a HUGE red flag here. In most developed countries, the arrangement they're trying to push on you is not you being an employee of that company, it's you being an independent contractor working for them, and there are a whole slew of potentially problematic implications to this (lack of employment benefits in most cases being a big one).
The obsession with monitoring what you're doing is also a red flag. Earning the company's trust is one thing, but even if you were at the office this type of monitoring shows a lack of understanding of how programming (or any type of true engineering work beyond trivial stuff) actually works, and it's not even a small misunderstanding.