Remote Worker Investigations: Are your employees actually working from home?
Many top business leaders are pushing for employees to return to the office environment, arguing the case for increased social collaboration, productivity, and innovation. Leadership in many high level companies don't believe long term full time remote work is sustainable.
But many employees have pushed back against the ‘return to office’ mandates and as such, companies have either rescinded the return to physical office or they have begun offering a hybrid schedule that will see employees in the office part-time and working from home part-time. So with working-from-home now permanent, companies need to adapt in order to maximize productivity and mitigate the potential risks of sensitive company data being accessed outside the workplace.
Are employees more willing to commit employee fraud while working remotely?
In an interview with HR Reporter, Alan Mak, the national forensics leader at BDO Canada said that employees working remotely have potential to accomplish workplace fraud:
“Employees, being inside the organization, have access to records and resources that outsiders do not have. With that access, they can accomplish virtually that much more if they want to perpetuate fraud.”
Reputational damage is another real concern. Mak continues by saying, “if you have a significant situation of employee fraud and it [goes] public, then there’s tremendous potential impact on reputation on your business, to the company.”
Do solutions exist for employers to supervise remotely?
The answer is Yes! Internal options for employee monitoring include tracking of computer mouse movements, remote workforce solutions such as those offered by Citrix and Microsoft Teams, and scheduling mandatory video calls for morning briefings.
Externally there are options of employee surveillance, both physical and online. Physical surveillance is a great solution for employers looking to expand their organizational observations by discretely observing employees on days they are supposed to be working from home (this became popular through the COVID pandemic). Another tool is social media tracking. If employees are active on their social media accounts, investigators can discretely track posts and movements of employees based on their social media activity.
Discretion is #1 priority.
The number one reason why employers hesitate when considering surveillance on employees is discretion. Will the investigators be too obvious, will the employees discover investigators following them or watching their home. These concerns are valid.
But if the right investigation agency is conducting the work, one that prioritizes discretion over anything else, the possibility that employees will catch onto the surveillance is significantly diminished.
How Corporate Private Investigators help Protect the Workplace
Physical surveillance of employees and monitoring of their social media can develop intelligence that can help employers know if their staff is actually working.
Corporate private investigators can:
Conduct surveillance at an employee’s residence to determine if they leave their homes to conduct non-employment related activities during work hours.
Review social media posts to identify instances when employees may be posting personal matters during work hours.
Determine if employees conduct work in public spaces, such as Starbucks, and if they are logging into public Wifi networks or leaving their laptops (and company property) unprotected and available to others in public.
Produce an investigation report that can be used in court.
IN SUMMARY
Remote and hybrid workplaces are becoming more popular and it is important for employers to know if their employees are conducting personal activities during scheduled work hours and if they are effectively protecting company data and intellectual property outside of the workplace.