I thought this was a great topic because I can see it from the other side of the tracks.

I have very detailed time sheets that my employees fill out daily. It tracks every minute of their day along with every mile they put on my vehicles. If they stop at Burger King to grab a burger it goes on the time sheet.

The reason I do this is because I know how long it takes me to do the jobs I pay my guys to do. So if I can do the job in 15 minutes but they are there for 45 I know they are either struggling with the task or are real talkative with the customers. Each night I go through the time sheets and I can see what my guys did all day long. If I have a guy who spends more time at locations than he should be I can investigate why. While I encourage my guys to be friendly with customers I do not want them spending a half hour at their house just talking about the weather. If it is just that they are struggling I can set them up with more training.

I know my control issues stem from my time in the military, but I use it to my advantage.