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Somehow this is so obvious and also something I would never have thought of: Some companies want to be able to visit their remote workers at their homes for unplanned, in-person bullying to make sure people are always producing at all costs. Here's an excerpt from a Gizmodo article:
Toymaker Mattel has removed language from a remote job description for its American Girl brand that said selected employees would be subject to “periodic unplanned visits” from supervisors during work shifts. However, that was far from the only requirement that raised eyebrows and provoked indignation over the job posting.
The posting for “Seasonal Customer Service Home Agents,” who process customer orders on the phone, gained traction in recent days after screenshots of the outrageous requirements were shared on social media. Besides unplanned surprise visits from the boss, the job also required selected employees to work in a closed-door area with “no distractions,” provide their own high-speed internet, and be free from “the caretaking of others.”
The company, home to brands like Barbie, Hot Wheels, Fisher-Price, and Masters of the Universe, did not spare details in its requirements. The closed-door work area, for instance, needed to be free from “distractions or background noise (ie: pets, children, machinery, music or talking),” according to a screenshot of the job posting on Twitter. Mattel also stressed in the posting that selected employees must be “focused on work” and not caring for people or pets.
The interesting thing is _not_ that they backed down after some brief pressure on social media. What's interesting is that they tried at all. They'll do so again. Many companies will. It's simply part of the logic of having a job itself; "employers" literally rent your life for 8 or so hours a day, and during that time, they want to be able to do anything they can to you, subject you to whatever whim. If you're someone who works from home, it makes perfect sense for the bosses to adopt the ready-made, feudal-style tools of the landlord to control you in your home: random inspections, control over your personal environment, control over each activity and each second of your day. It's only a matter of time before companies simply decide to buy your apartment complex and literally become your landlord so that they really can do shit like random inspections without anyone batting an eye. It's already accepted practice for landlords to come and go in your personal space however they please and tell you how you're supposed to live inside their property.
To reiterate a point I made in my earlier post — we're also probably going to lose the battle over this type of stuff. There is no unified, coordinated movement for office workers, unions are nonexistent in that sector, and even moreso for remote workers. Social media pressure was able to stave off Mattel in this instance, but it won't be able to hold back every other company that wants to get its hands on your personal space and turn it into their productive capital. The potential returns are just too great.
Once again, working from home is not all it's cracked up to be. It's literally inviting the big bad wolf inside.