A Dozen Wells Fargo Employees Fired for Allegedly Faking Work

A dozen Wells Fargo Employees are being fired for allegedly faking work.

Wells Fargo this week disclosed that it has fired more than a dozen employees for “simulation of keyboard activity,” Bloomberg reported, citing disclosures filed with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. In layperson’s terms, they were faking work. The employees were “discharged after review of allegations involving simulation of keyboard activity creating impression of active work.”

The fired employees worked in the bank’s wealth and investment management unit.

Inc. reports that how the employees simulated their work activity has yet to be formally clarified. However, the report discusses the use of items known as mouse movers or jigglers, which simulate motion at work without having to be at one’s keyboard. Such gadgets are available on Amazon.com for less than $20, and they became popular during the pandemic with so many employees starting to work from home.

Many companies are employing methods of monitoring work habits when employees are away from a standard office, and Wells Fargo may utilize those monitoring methods, leading the company to fire these selected employees.

Per Reuters, the banking company asked most of its employees, including those in customer-facing roles, to return to the office and work under a hybrid flexible model in 2022. The bank now expects most staffers to be in the office at least three days a week, while members of the management committee are in four days, and many employees, such as branch workers, are in five days.

“Wells Fargo holds employees to the highest standards and does not tolerate unethical behavior,” a company spokesperson told FOX Business.

The recent firings echo another round of terminations at Wells Fargo in 2018. Then, the firm investigated employees for alleged violations of its expense policy after they tried to get the company to pay for ineligible evening meals.