NaTopp

> making sure your employees had enough, interesting work to keep them occupied,

Fully agree on that. It's not always under our control (client's provide the task packages), but at least as a communication part we can raise awareness of such situation on the client's site.

> There’s some irony in the business the OP describes hires programmers out to multiple customers. That means the owners and managers of the company are working multiple jobs.

Interesting point. Didn't thought about that yet! I wouldn't say the situtations are exactly the same, but they share a lot of details.

> I want my customers to understand what they are paying for and what I am committing to

That's what I'd like to see from everyone (generally spoken). Anyhow, thanks for your thoughts and sharing your experiences! There is a lot of value in it.

I guess communication is - as usual - a huge factor in all of this (from each party).

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> For example I commit to my customers that I will answer routine emails the same day, and urgent emails or phone calls immediately.

That's very valuable and honest from you. But it's you who is doing that. Not everyone acts like that (from my experience). So how would one be able to create a proper adherence for such a commitment (that was agreed on while signing the contract)?

> The OP didn’t ask how to measure employee performance or set expectations and goals. They asked how to identify employees who had multiple jobs.

While this statement is true, I'm nonetheless interested in a good ways to measure and agree on performance metrics. But please metrics that do not affect (especially the remote) in a negative way. Personally I'm not so much of a fan to put number of people's performances, especially in development, which makes it really hard some times.

Good questions.

> Do you have clear milestones and performance metrics?

Milestones yes, performance metrics not so much. Main reason here is that we serve different clients and we extend their existing strategies/work flows. So some times it's hard to measure stuff. Nonetheless in the past we did not pass milestones on time and thus questions were raised (esp. from clients).

So I guess we should start to build up some metrics. Any suggestions?

> Think about what actual problem you have

Main argument is about trust. We want to have provide an open work culture, so that everyone can openly speak about anything. If there are troubles (e.g. with performance) we try to encourage everyone to speak openly about it and to find solutions.

Secondly some times people are not as responsive (in terms of communication) as we initially agreed and usually re-negotiate every now and then.

And third: yes, there was decreased productity - and still is from time to time - so we openly try to find a solution with the affected people to increase it again. Unfortunately decreased productivity is not backed by a lot of data, but by day to day

So I'd guess confirmation bias is also some factor for the company.

> Do you pay your developers well enough [...]

I'm not in the position to know exact numbers, but what I've heard so far is that they are compensated well. Nonetheless I don't know exact details. But I know that they don't get a compensation like people in Europe.

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Yes, one could boil this down to control (as mentioned in another comment), but I don't think it's that easy. If we agree on a contract, then I (personally) expect that each site of the contract is fullfilling their duties. And our contract clearly states that the company must be informed about side-projects and other work. There is no direct penalty if one works a second job, but there will be a huge trust issue.