🎉 Fired for fake activity

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Read time: 2.5 minutes

Good Afternoon Party People! 🎉

It’s almost officially Summer!

Vibes are high. Sun is out. And we’re here to make your workday just a little bit better.

PARTY PLAN 🎉

🤨 Workers FIRED for fake activity

☀️ NEW summer work trend just dropped

✂️ Executives hoping for turnover?

And, of course, MEMES!

MEME OF THE DAY

🎉 JOB PARTY 🎉

It’s a brutal job market.

It takes hundreds and hundreds of applications for most people to land an interview…

Tailored resume after tailored resume.

Cover letter after cover letter.

Ghosted. No reply. Endless applications.

No good way to prepare for interviews…

No guidance or help…

That’s why we created Job Party - an AI toolbox to help you with your job search.

Now you can get instant resumes, tailored cover letters, prepare for interviews, and get help from our AI career coach.

WORKPLACE

FIRED For Fake Activity

We’ve all seen that one viral video during COVID. That one where a very clever employee created a contraption that moves his mouse so that he appears online, even when he’s not.

Well, this clever individual has inspired a lot of workers to do the same.

And it’s all fun and games…until you get caught. 

Remote workers beware. The days of finessing mouse and keyboard activity to appear active may be over. More than a dozen Wells Fargo employees were fired last month for allegedly faking mouse and/or keyboard activity, according to Bloomberg.

Since the pandemic, mouse jiggler devices have become popular among remote workers.

The devices cost about $20 and can simulate mouse activity while an employee is away from their computer. There are also devices that automatically press keys to mimic typing which cost about $60.

(Someone out there is making a killing by selling these devices…)

The rise in popularity of such devices came in response to employers using “bossware” to track employee activity.

Bossware can typically log employee activity including mouse and keyboard activity, as well as apps and websites accessed.

The Electric Frontier Foundation, along with most workers, considers the technology to be invasive. The EFF also pointed out that bossware can incentivize workers to engage in the wrong type of productivity, like moving their mouse every few seconds, rather than engaging in thought or analysis.

Workers should check for bossware installed on their devices, even if they work exclusively in the office. Worker advocacy group CoWorker.org compiled a list of bossware programs.

View list of bossware programs

PTO

NEW Summer Work Trend Just Dropped

We’ve heard of employees quiet quitting…

Then companies quiet cutting…

Now employees are punching back with quiet vacationing. 

☀️ According to a Resume Builder survey from last month, 1 in 10 workers said they took an unauthorized vacation day.

Of workers twho engaged in this new trend of quiet vacationing, 18% took only one secret day, 43% took 2-3 days, 24% took 4-5 days, and 15% took 6+ unauthorized vacation days.

It’s a good thing these people don’t work at Wells Fargo!

While it may seem like employees are just being shady and trying to get out of work, some of their excuses for quiet vacationing actually make some sense.

30% said they worried taking PTO would make them look less hardworking, and 29% said they believed they would be more likely to be laid off if they took PTO.

Understandable logic, although they’re probably much more likely to be laid off if they get caught quiet vacationing.

Most employees still answered emails and took phone calls during their secret vacations to appear as if they were still engaged in work. Some had a co-worker help out. 37% used a tool to get around bossware systems that monitor employee activity…(seems like that may not be the best approach).

It looks like the trend will continue through the summer with 1 in 8 workers panning to take “quiet vacation days” in the summer months.

Nearly half of the employees planning to partake in this new trend are planning to take at least 4 days, with some planning to take 8+ days.

Bold strategy cotton, we’ll see how it plays out for them!

LAYOFFS

Executives Hoped RTO = Reduced Headcount

We’ve all heard the conspiracy theories about companies using RTO (return-to-office) mandates to reduce headcount.

But now they’re finally saying the quiet part out loud…

According to a new report from BambooHR, 25% of c-suite and VP executives, along with 18% of HR professionals said they hoped RTO policies would cause employees to quit.

Among that group, 37% said their company conducted layoffs because fewer employees quit than expected during the RTO transition.

The study also found that performative tactics are emerging among employees.

Tactics such as walking around the office so managers see them, planning meetings with co-workers for the sole purpose of appearing engaged at work, scheduling emails before and after regular work hours, and keeping work messaging apps open to appear “active” even when they’re not.

Sneaky, sneaky.

The game of work chess isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. According to a study from Gartner, RTO policies are more likely to drive away high-performing employees.

The firm concluded that the costs linked to attrition and productivity may outweigh the RTO benefits related to employee engagement.

(On a side note: a lot of “studies” that claim to show benefits of return-to-office policies are funded by commercial real estate companies).

A similar study from the University of Michigan showed that RTO mandates are likely to prompt senior leaders to leave the company for direct competitors.

That trend may be amplified following the FTC’s ban on noncompete agreements.

Despite RTO mandates driving away talent at all levels, 70% of companies plan to maintain or increase the number of required in-person days for employees in 2025.

At least now the executives are being honest about their reasoning!

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