Caught you faking: Wells Fargo firings expose workplace surveillance dilemma

Wells Fargo’s decision to fire more than a dozen employees for “simulation of keyboard activity” points to a simmering tension in the post-pandemic workplace.

Why it matters: Major employers are using surveillance tools to ensure that no matter where people work, they’re at their computers — but polls suggest doing so is risky for morale.

Driving the news: Wells Fargo didn’t say whether the employees — from the company’s wealth- and investment-management unit — were working remotely, or how they were faking the “impression of active work,” Bloomberg reports.

• A Wells Fargo spokesperson told Axios the bank “holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behavior” but declined to comment on any specifics.
• Like many other big banks, Wells Fargo has moved to get more workers in the office more of the time. Most have to turn up at least three days a week.

Between the lines: The prevalence of cheap tools like “mouse jigglers” to simulate activity suggests some of America’s white collar workers are skating by in the hybrid world — though the rise of remote work doesn’t seem to have hurt productivity overall.

• But the use of surveillance tools poses a risk at a time when it’s getting harder and harder to keep workers happy, Axios’ Javier E. David notes.
• A 2023 Pew poll found that most workers would oppose the use of AI by their employers to track where they go, when they’re at their desks or what they’re doing on their computers.

• In another poll, from Forbes, 43% of workers said their employers monitored their online activity, while 59% felt such monitoring raised ethical concerns and 43% thought it was bad for morale.

Context: Workplace surveillance software blew up during the COVID-19 pandemic, but it’s now keeping an eye on some in-person workers, too.

• That inverts the pretty basic idea that employees should be judged on output, not inputs, Axios’ Alex Fitzpatrick points out.

What to watch: Anxiety about losing your job to ChatGPT will only exacerbate the rift between workers and bosses that’s been created by workplace surveillance and return-to-office policies, writes Axios’ Megan Morrone.