US employers now tracking ‘keyboard fraud’

Some firms are now hunting down techniques aimed at feigning work and are using sophisticated “tattleware” instruments for this purpose, a contraction of “tattle” and “software”.

These tools, whose demand has exploded since the Covid-19 pandemic, are installed on company computers and track employee productivity by monitoring their computer desktop, keyboard activity or even GPS location.

A Florida-based marketing firm reportedly installed software on its computers that took screenshots every 10 minutes, according to Harvard Business Review.

But some employees seek to circumvent these telltale devices by using other tools, such as those that simulate mouse movement and thus prevent the computer from going to sleep. The goal: to appear active in the eyes of management while engaging in activities that are often unrelated to work.

Tips

“Tutorials” on TikTok or YouTube teach how to appear artificially active, for example through fake PowerPoint presentations for “when you need a nap.”

“Just click Slideshow and you’re good to go,” says Sho Dewan, an influencer who describes himself as a “former recruiter sharing HR secrets,” in a TikTok video that has been viewed millions of times.

Another trick often given in these tutorials: open a word processor and place a lock on any key on the keyboard. The employee appears active to the monitoring tools while the sheet fills with the same character line after line.

But the most popular tool remains the mouse-moving gadget, available for purchase for about ten dollars.

“Press the button when you get up from your desk and the cursor will randomly move around the screen, for hours if necessary!” enthuses one user in an Amazon review of the product.

The risk of being caught, however, remains high. In a post on the social network Reddit, an employee recounts being fired when his manager discovered he was using a mouse movement simulator.

Staging

Noting that he used software for this simulator, some netizens suggest in the comments to use an “undetectable” hardware gadget.

According to human resources professionals, this game of cat and mouse has led to the emergence of “productivity staging”, where employees sometimes theatrically pretend to be active.

With the Covid-19 pandemic and consequently the development of teleworking, is measuring the time spent in front of a screen and the number of mouse “clicks” really an effective tool for gauging productivity?

In a survey cited by the Harvard Business Review, companies point out that secretly monitoring employees can “backfire” on employers.

“We found that monitored employees were significantly more likely to take unapproved breaks, damage office property, steal equipment and deliberately work at a slow pace” than those who were not, the journal said.

For AJ Mizes, head of a career advice company, the use of activity simulators demonstrates the existence of a “work culture focused more on performance indicators than on constructive productivity and human relationships.”

“Rather than driving innovation and trust, this surveillance approach will only push employees to find new ways to appear busy,” said the executive, who decried a “worrying trend of excessive surveillance.”

Source : AFP