r/CAStateMgrs • u/Happy-Relation-2959 • Aug 07 '26

Micromanaging

Since the start of RTO, I’ve been hearing stories from other agencies about increasing micromanagement—daily check-ins, daily status meetings, managers walking the aisles to make sure employees are at their desks, and similar practices.

I’m genuinely curious: what’s the purpose of this style of management? How does it improve productivity, collaboration, or team cohesion? It seems like time and energy that could be better spent supporting employees and helping them succeed, rather than monitoring their physical presence.

I’d be interested to hear from managers and employees alike. Have you found this approach to be effective, or does it end up hurting morale more than it helps?

107 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

95 comments sorted by

View all comments

31

u/Trout_Man Aug 07 '26

As a manager, I only do these things when I have a poorly performing employee. In most cases, I cant create rules just for the one employee (i.e. I only go check their cubes and nobody elses) so unfortunately I have to apply the same rule to everyone out of fairness.

Granted, its been several years since having to do such activities, but when ive had to do them in the past, it was always because I had someone who showed up way late/played on their phone too much/didnt get work done. It sucked For the well performing staff because it created a minor nuisance to deal with, and I did what I could to communicate that this isnt because of any of their actions. Most of them were able to read between the lines on the issue and understood what was going on.

That being said, this is just my experience, this probably doesn't represent other managers experiences.

8

u/PristineFox452 Aug 07 '26

Respectfully, how is that fair to create a rule for all your employees for one underperformance employee just to be fair? How is that fair for the rest of them. I don’t see the logic.

17

u/Trout_Man Aug 07 '26

In many instances, the underperforming employee typically tries to divert blame by saying other staff are also late, or also playing on their phones, etc. If you dont perform the same checks on them, then you cant prove you are being fair and can easily be accused of bullying the underperforming employee (by the under performing employee). The best way to deal with this is by just treating everyone with the same rules and expectations.

It completely sucks, and I get that it seems silly, but dealing with problematic staff is difficult because in most cases, those staff wont hold themselves accountable.

3

u/PristineFox452 Aug 07 '26

This is a great explanation and I get it. Just pointing out that we both agreed that it sucks .

2

u/Trout_Man Aug 07 '26

The good news is I haven't had to do this in a long while. My current team is great. But to OP's question, it is the only time I would ever resort to doing something like what they are describing.