> It's worth noting that for those edge cases all the productivity monitoring in the world won't make that employee any more effective, and you won't need those tools to see that they're not cutting it (assuming you're engaged with your team as the other commenter describes).

The main purpose of the tracking of the “edge cases” is basically insurance in the event of a law suit.

Yes, it irritates the folks with good intentions, but a good manager will keep the tracking tax as light as possible for the folks who are actually working.

The amount of headache it saves when the lawsuit or threat of a lawsuit comes around is quite a bit.