“So hard to figure out what they actually are doing when they should be “keystroking” instead.”
Good managers have specific measurable tasks that must be accomplished in a specific timeframe.
The worker gets them done or they do not.
Easy Peasy.
A better measurement is “Can we do without this person?”. Too many managers keep people around to fill numbers. We laid off several people for not doing work, later found out they really did do work and we had no one who could replace them.
I retire in less than 2 months(on PTO for 3 months after that). They don’t have the resources to replace me until I am completely gone. So they will be paying me double if they ask me to sign in during that time. There is no one to do my job because I am a lone asset on several systems.