Wells Fargo Fires Multiple Employees for Faking Work

Wells Fargo recently decided to lay off over a dozen employees from its wealth and investment management unit. According to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) disclosure, the bank made the move after finding that the employees were faking work.

https://x.com/virtualselect/status/1801671221311943059

Employees Are Using Software To Simulate Work

Wells Fargo employees used mouse jigglers to simulate computer activity rather than actually working. In its disclosure, FINRA wrote that they were “discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating the impression of active work.”

It is not known whether the employees faked work from home, if they did it from the office, or if there was a combination of both.

Software and devices such as mouse jigglers have been around for years now, emerging primarily during the Work From Home (WFH) era caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They allowed workers to simulate work away from the office. These solutions became quite popular given the situation, selling for as little as $20 apiece.

One of the reasons why they started selling massively was the companies’ reaction to having to let their employers work from home. The companies, wanting to ensure production, started stepping up their use of technology to monitor their workers’ activities even from afar. It wasn’t unusual for the firms to keep track of things like keystrokes or to have them use eye movement software.

Employees responded to this by using the previously described solutions that could trick the software used by the companies.

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The Game of Cat And Mouse

Wells Fargo started bringing its employees back into the office in early 2022. However, it still kept the hybrid model, allowing most staffers to spend several days a week working from home, while on other days, they would have to come to the office.

With that being the case, the staff members suspected of using mouse jigglers and other similar tools may have done this during the days when they worked from home.

Given that many companies rely on similar software as Wells Fargo to monitor inputs from their WFH employees, other firms may start conducting their own investigations to determine whether their workers are actually working during business hours. Given how the monitoring tools have evolved and can now spot patterns, catching employees who rely on fake work software is more than possible, especially with more sophisticated monitoring tools.

Of course, mouse jigglers and similar tools are evolving as well, using more random patterns, and turning the situation into a cat-and-mouse game where each side continues to improve their technology to outperform the other.