New job offer pays 30% more but the laptop has screen-recording monitoring software. trying to think clearly about this and my gut is loud.

Got an offer. Fully remote, 30% bump over what im on now, which is real money i could use. In the final call HR mentioned, casually, that the company laptop has “security and productivity software” that includes periodic screen captures and activity logging.

So they’d have screenshots of my screen, throughout the day, stored somewhere. For a job i do alone in my own home.

Part of me says this is just the cost of remote work now, take the money, keep my personal stuff off the work machine, and treat the laptop as the company’s window. Part of me says screenshots of my screen every few minutes is a real line, and the fact that they mentioned it so lightly is the tell that they know it’s a line too.

What im trying to weigh: is monitoring like this usually just box-ticking that nobody actually reviews unless theres a problem, or does it tend to creep into “your active time was low on tuesday” performance conversations? Does the 30% make it worth it, or is that the exact trade that feels fine until the first time it’s used against you?

for people who’ve worked under screen-capture monitoring: did it fade into background noise, or did it change how the job felt day to day? and would you take the 30% knowing what you know now?