Woman fired after company uses keystroke technology to monitor her work from home

NY Post ^ | 08/09/2023 | Clare Sibthorpe

[ChicagoConservative27]

A major insurance company used keystroke technology on an employee’s work laptop to test whether she was working her designated hours — and it ended terribly for her.

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) has rejected an unfair dismissal application brought by former Insurance Australia Group (IAG) consultant Suzie Cheikho, finding she was fired for a “valid reason of misconduct.”

According to the commission’s published finding, Cheikho was responsible for creating insurance documents, meeting regulatory timelines, and monitoring “work from home compliance,” among other significant roles.

Ironically, her own work-from-home performance marked the end of her 18-year career with the company.

According to the FWC findings, Cheikho was fired on February 20 for missing deadlines and meetings, being absent and uncontactable, and failing to complete a task which caused the industry regulator to fine IAG.

[bobbo666]

Not just that. You also might be required to be “at your desk” for certain time periods — e.g., for communication.

Spying on her COMPANY laptop is how they proved this cheater and fraud was not working as she claimed.

I used tohave a job wherein I was oncall 24/7. Had a laptop at home and a dial up (yeah, that long ago). More than once I got a call in the wee hours (e.g., once at 3A) and I had to respond. First thing: “No, i’ve not had a drink in last 6 hours and am ..... sober.” Then, on to the laptop to respond to the official trouble report.

Working from home can be a hassle. But, it is convenient, too.

[Gunslingr3]

In ten years it’ll be irrelevant as all these work from home button pushers get replaced by cheaper and more reliable AI.

I'll take that bet, no limit.

Chatbots like ChatGPT are built to generate likely sequences of words, not true statement. The hype is off the charts lately.

[AppyPappy]

The last developer took us 2 years to find. The replacement will be a Java Developer and I’m not a Java Developer. They don’t even have someone for me to train now.

[liberalh8ter]

Heck, we did this for our Beta testing of work at home. We dispensed with the employee and the program when the results came in. We also looked at our telephone data for the night crew…..quite a few spent their evenings calling back home to “the old Country”. They were dispensed with, as well. I’m retired now but it was getting to the point where we had to have an investigative department for survival.

[Organic Panic]

Personally... I would not be able to work at home. Home is for relaxing and mixing delicious adult beverages.

I have a shop and office where I work. And I enjoy my work.

[SamAdams76]

Regardless of the senasationalist headline, here are some of the reasons this woman really got fired...

"According to the FWC findings, Cheikho was fired on February 20 for missing deadlines and meetings, being absent and uncontactable, and failing to complete a task which caused the industry regulator to fine IAG..."

[subterfuge]

I worked from home for awhile. 90% of the time when someone was asked a question on a zoom meeting the person being questioned would reply with “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question? I was distracted.” No, they hadn’t been paying attention AT ALL. Probably watching TV most of the time.

[lepton]

Work.

Go for a couple of 15 minute walks during the day.

Spend 1-2 of the 3.5 hours associated with commuting working longer as a baseline, starting earlier and working a little later.

Spend about half my lunch hour doing chores and making lunch then spend the rest back at my desk.

Pop on for a few minutes at about 10PM or later to make sure nothing has blown up since I stepped away at 5:30, and get things back on track with the overnight crew as needed.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I always had the same attitude. Work is work, and home is where you get away from work. Never had a problem with going in, day or night, if something had to get done, but I wasn’t about to take work home, ever.

[PeterPrinciple]

Some people just lack good work ethic. These individuals are wholly incompatible with work-from-home.

---

But are they any better in the office environment?

[lepton]

90% of the time when someone was asked a question on a zoom meeting the person being questioned would reply with “I’m sorry, could you repeat the question? I was distracted.”

---

I do that sometimes. It is because the meeting is on topics which don’t affect me and I’m reading through and responding to e-mails - when the topic suddenly shifts. In my case the boss knows that is what I am doing because they can see the e-mails going out and getting responses.

[MayflowerMadam]

Yikes!

[cgbg]

Yup—one of the great benefits of working at home is that you don’t have to deal with the deadbeats.

In the office they are loud and disruptive.

[hopespringseternal]

If you need to count keystrokes to determine your employee’s worth you suck as a manager.

Some people barely work and accomplish more than others who bleed on the keyboard.

Results or compliance?

[Openurmind]

I have a friend who works from home doing computer customer help/service. He is monitored every second while on duty including how long his keys idle. He only gets two 15 minute breaks and a half hour lunch during an 8 hour shift. The rest of the time he had better be on duty and beating on those keys or his pay is docked for any idle time.

[subterfuge]

Gotcha. Are you still WFH? My company still has mostly zoom meetings even when we’re all in the office. I guess it’s preferred now.

[ro_dreaming]

My office is half-height cubicles for the entire floor, except for the director of IT gets an actual office.

I hear 18 different conversations at a time, and it’s extremely distracting.

When I work from home, I shut my bedroom door, and work. I get more work done at home than in the office, even with much slower broadband bandwidth at home.

[Lazamataz]

Not guilty.