Wells Fargo recently let go of multiple employees for allegedly falsifying their work records.
According to reports from Bloomberg News, more than a dozen individuals in the wealth management and investment division were dismissed for creating false activity on their keyboards to make it seem like they were working.
Six employees were confirmed to be terminated by the BBC, with one resigning voluntarily after the accusations surfaced.
Wells Fargo, a major American financial institution based in San Francisco, emphasized the importance of ethical behavior following these dismissals. The bank’s spokeswoman, Laurie Watson Kight, stated, “We set high standards for our employees and do not tolerate unethical conduct.”
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many office workers transitioned to remote work setups. While some employees continue to work from home, others have adopted a hybrid work-from-home arrangement.
Recently, several Wall Street companies, like Barclays, Citigroup, and HSBC, have called back thousands of employees to work in-office five days a week, as per Forbes.
In response to remote work practices, tools like “mouse-jigglers” gained popularity during lockdowns. These devices simulate mouse movements to keep computers active and prevent them from going into sleep mode or displaying as inactive on apps, as stated by digitaltrends.com.
Moreover, a new rule by FINRA, which regulates financial firms, requires home-based employees to be registered and inspected at least every three years, as per the FINRA website.
Wells Fargo has faced scrutiny in the past due to scandals like the fake accounts issue in 2016, where staff opened unauthorized accounts in customers’ names to meet targets. The bank settled resulting legal actions for $3 billion, according to the Department of Justice.
Subsequently, Wells Fargo faced further legal action over its handling of the fake accounts scandal, as reported by Reuters.