As soon as the laptop has started up, the first chat window pops up. The boss wishes a good morning, just a few minutes later she asked about the status of the project. Several calls and e-mails follow by the lunch break, often only with questions put forward.

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Control burdened by bosses When employees no longer work in the office due to the Corona crisis, some superiors feel insecure. Is your colleague at home really working on the project at the moment? Or is he cleaning out the dishwasher? But the more the boss tries to keep control with messages, the more likely the employees feel that they are losing control.

“Of course, when I have the feeling that someone is sitting on my neck, I’m afraid of mistakes, shame and punishment, maybe even stigmatization, “explains Tim Hagemann, who holds the professorship for work, organizational and health psychology at the Diakonie University of Applied Sciences in Bielefeld. “Then of course that is also something that can be psychologically stressful.”

Performance comparison no longer an incentive In such a case, the body releases stress hormones. “Stress is always when I have the feeling that I cannot cope with a situation,” says Hagemann. Employees are more susceptible to bacterial and virological diseases. They can struggle with insomnia, and in the long run they may suffer from problems with their stomach or cardiovascular system.

And not only that: If employees feel under surveillance, the company can provide incentives for them lose their charm. “One example is the choice of the employee of the month, which is actually supposed to motivate,” says Ivo Schedlinsky from the University of Bayreuth. But an experiment with 170 students in cooperation with the Justus Liebig University in Gießen shows: Anyone who is observed by a camera while working, feels such a performance comparison rather than control.

Monitoring technology – subject to approval Of course, supervisors cannot simply install a camera at home. But at least technically, there are hardly any limits to work control in the home office – from monitoring mouse movements to measuring keystrokes to systems that automatically switch to absent after five minutes of inactivity.

“In extreme cases, employers can, in principle, simply watch without cause by duplicating the screen and seeing what they are doing”, reports Joachim Posegga from the computer science chair with a focus on IT security at the University of Passau. “Technically that would at least be feasible, but that will probably not be tolerated by any works council.”

No spying without cause

From a legal point of view, there are limits to monitoring in the home office. Secret controls are only allowed if superiors “can only clarify a suspicion of unlawful or criminal action at their expense”, emphasizes Peter Wedde, Professor of Labor Law and Information Society Law in Frankfurt In the first few weeks of the exit restrictions in the spring, this was partially observed. “Because employers suspected that employees were more in the hardware store or in the garden than at home, detective agencies should carry out shading jobs,” reports the lawyer. Some companies would justify monitoring with technical weaknesses and a higher risk of hacker attacks in the home office.

Missing feedback in the home office Control must not only have negative consequences. “If you are monitored, your performance is also seen,” says Schedlinsky. Especially those who want to prove themselves for a promotion can benefit from it. Errors can also be ironed out faster or even avoided.

Employees with less experience in particular also lack feedback from colleagues or the boss in the home office. “The uncertainty does not necessarily arise from control, but rather from isolation