I had the greatest work at home job. I had total freedom and worked maybe 4 hours per day. No one cared as long as all of the work was taken care of. Well now there's new management and we're going to have all of our activities monitored. If it doesn't look like we're constantly working, we'll be chastised and maybe eventually fired. So even if there's nothing to do I still have to be “working” until a certain set time and then clock out so I'll have to sit there clicking random screens and sections of the program we use in order to show evidence of that. A mouse jiggler isn't enough to prove anything because they are monitoring exactly what we are looking at and opening. If we take any break, we are expected to clock out and clock back in, so if I do that is just going to extend my time even longer.
I used to take care of errands during the day, get outside and go for hikes, or go to the pool in the summer. I could spend time with my husband since he has a weird schedule and is off Sun through Tues rather than the normal weekend. I was able to have a real life for the past 3 years. Now I'll be indoors, hunched over a screen all day, trying to fake being busy. I know other people have it worse. As of now I can still be at home, I can still sit and watch TV while I pretend to work those extra 4 hours. I'm trying to see the positives that I still have. But still I'm so devastated. I feel like I've been put on house arrest. I've been looking for other jobs but the stuff I'm qualified for looks just as bad. A lot of phone queue stuff which will have the same problem and likely be even worse. I had this lucky break for a while and I don't think I can ever find it again. I don't know how I'm going to do this for 20 or more years. Staying inside all day makes me very depressed. Even before 2020 when I did have to go to an office, my job gave me enough freedom to at least walk outside during the day, go to a park, go out for lunch etc during downtime. It's been at least 10 years since I've had these kinds of restrictions placed on me and I didn't deal with it well. I just don't know what to do.