San Francisco, June 14: Wells Fargo Bank, a US-based financial service firm, took strict action and fired over a dozen employees over faking the work using simulated keyboard activity, letting the bank think they were working. When this was realised, Wells Fargo terminated these employees from the relevant department. Surprisingly, all these employees worked in the finance bank's wealth and investment management unit. 

According to a report by Bloomberg, the Wells Fargo employees were fired last month after the firm launched an investigation and found that they were faking their work. The disclosure filed to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority cited the same reason for firing these individuals from the wealth and investment management unit. Meta Layoffs: Mark Zuckerberg-Run Company To Lay Off Around 50 Incompetent Vice Presidents Amid Restructuring.

A Wells Fargo spokesperson said in a statement that the bank held employees to the highest standards and would not tolerate such behaviour. The report explained that such devices, often referred to as "move jigglers" or "mouse movers," were used to imitate employees' activities. Such practice reportedly began during the global pandemic's work-from-home era. 

The report mentioned that such practices began with people exchanging tips over platforms like TikTok and Reddit about devices that simulated work that were available on Amazon.com for less than $20. However, other reports mentioned that that most of the MNCs implemented highly advanced technologies to monitor employees after allowing them to work remotely. These tools and services helped the companies to take screenshots and monitor keystrokes to identify what the employees were doing and which websites they visited. FedEx Layoffs: US-Based Delivery Giant To Cut Up to 2,000 Jobs in Europe To Save Structural Costs Amid Decline in Global Shipping Demand.

After the pandemic, the finance industry was among the first to order employees to leave work from home (WFH) and adopt the "hybrid flexible model" in early 2022. Wells Fargo expected most employees to work three days a week and the management committee to work four days a week. The report said that the finance firm announced that branch workers were asked to come five days a week for work. The report highlighted that Wells Fargo's firing of these employees was reminiscent of an incident at the firm in 2018 when employees alleged violations of its expense policy and getting the company pay for their "ineligible evening meals".

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jun 14, 2024 01:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).