When I worked that keystroke thing seemed symbolically rotten. Bosses have little to do usually in my experience but the thought of them casually spying was abhorrent to me.
But I first read in a Time or Newsweek in a waiting room in probably 1985 that companies were sending messages to workers on computers during the day saying “The worker next to you is working 14% faster and 5 workers have completed 41% more work today than you.” It has gotten worse.
—”The worker next to you is working 14% faster and 5 workers have completed 41% more work today than you.”
A friend recently ran into an individual that worked for me for a few years, he gleefully told everyone present how his hair turned gray and fell out because I wrote the time he started an assignment on the board and much later the completion time for all to see.
Now he is a supervisor with the same company and I’m happy to hear he is doing well.
That said, IMO a constant beating with performance stats would be counterproductive.