(NewsWorthy.news) – Over a dozen employees with the Wells Fargo bank were fired last month due to their alleged involvement in pretending to work without accomplishing their tasks.
Last month, the company let go of a number of its workers following an investigation of accusations that they had engaged in a “simulation of keyboard activity” that had presented as an “impression of active work.” News of the firings came from filed disclosures from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, which is the governing arm of American broker-dealers.
Each of the terminated employees had worked to manage the Wells Fargo wealth and investment division. A large number of workers at the company work either remotely or in a hybrid workplace, resulting from the mandatory at-home adaptations made during the COVID-19 pandemic.
During this time, too, some workers reportedly became what is known as “mouse movers” and “mouse jigglers.” This approach leads employer-used monitoring software to believe that employees are doing their work when, in fact, they are not.
In a statement to the media, Wells Fargo emphasized that it has “the highest standards” for its employees, adding that “unethical behavior” is “not tolerate[d].”
The devices used to trick employers only cost $20 a piece and serve to routinely have cursors moving on the user’s computer screen, imitating mouse movement and indicating that the employee was actively working. Other pieces of technology, which cost roughly $60 each, will automatically press the keyboard to mimic typing.
However, it is uncertain if the since terminated Wells Fargo workers had utilized these technologies or were faking their productivity from home or within the office. Since 2022, the company has implemented a mandated hybrid work requirement.
The use of software and artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor employee productivity has become a point of controversy in recent years. In 2023, Pew Research found via poll results that most employees opposed this practice. Another survey from Forbes revealed that 59% of workers believed this practice toed the line with ethics in the workplace. The same poll showed 43% of employees reported being monitored online by their bosses.
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