Working for a company that micro manages, my boss asked me to build a script that calculates hours employee is not on his seat through camera feeds.
Received a mail today that my first weeks deficit are 7 hrs.

wow, that is really heavy, I would never work for anyone if there would be cameras filming me st my work desk..

and you forgot to add a working day plus for yourself in the calculation 😉

@2erXre5 is right, you forgot to add a god mode or something.

@taigrr yes, like @2erXre5 also mentioned I forgot to add a God mode for myself.
Checked and they revoked my access to the script.

I think it's time to start looking 😉

Hoisted by your own petard.

But yeah, definitely look elsewhere. Somewhere less Big-Brotherish.

Well you are not to blame, but i think it is really time to slowly pack up your stuff and leave.

Having a 1/2 less salary with a shitty job is probably better than being monitored and not being able to have fun.

Fuck that place.
I worked for someone like that before; he kept getting increasingly controlling and paranoid. Run away!

To be fair (and probably rude), that's not ethical, neiter from your boss, nor from you. You should not have done such a thing.

Not to bash on you, but you shouldn't have agreed to building such a script in the first place. Obviously no good can come of such a thing.
And yeah, like others said, you should start looking for another job (if you weren't already)

@klekih @endor No, both of you are wrong. An employee has to do what he/she is told to do, decision making is not his/her job and he/she is absolutely not to blame.

If he/she declined, the boss would still find someone else anyways, plus negative consequences for rejecting the boss.

@illegaldisease Where do you work? In a forced labour camp? If my boss asks me to do something like this, I would probably think he was joking. This is ridiculous.

@Jifuna Yes it is ridiculous, also not ethical. I am not talking about the context, i am talking about blaming the employee.

"Malicious compliance". If your chair has wheels, start going everywhere with it. (I didn't see any mention of being at his/her desk but only on the seat)

@illegaldisease "I was just following orders" is not an excuse when it comes to moral choices like this.
It is your duty to stand up against bullshit like this and say no, and if everyone holds the line you have successfully prevented the spread of evil.
If the boss looks elsewhere, let him. If the other people he asks have any sense of morality, they will stand up against it too.
If you say yes just because he's gonna go ask someone else otherwise, you are just as guilty.
The only exception is if you are trying to get in just to sabotage the act - which did not happen here.

Whether it's legal or ethical or not, it's terrible for morale, and creates an adversarial relationship between employees and management. In short, it's toxic. Get out.

@illegaldisease that's the most overused argument. Boss told me. I just executed. It doesn't stand.
If you, an employee, could have done something, anything, to prevent that, then you are responsible.
Sorry for your conscience. Better face it and, as others said, get out.

I’d copy the form the notices is in and make it my 2 weeks. You don’t even know what I was doing. Could have been helping other employees you slave drivers.

Also 7 hours? Sounds like 5 x 1hr lunches plus some 15 min breaks plus some bathroom trips. Aka totally normal you stalkers

That is fucked up

That's illegal.
Time to quit.

@PonySlaystation not illegal everywhere

@klekih that is quiet apt that your suggesting that he take a stand - that's what his boss asked him to monitor :P.

I would personally take it to the extreme and go everywhere on my chair. Get invited to a meeting? Don't walk but wheel your chair around and sit in it all day. Best if you can get the rest of the team on it too.

@taigrr maybe not illegal, absolutely unacceptable

Can you not just point the cam to a picture of you sitting in the chair?