Equifax is sending a message to its work force by firing at least two dozen of them. The company has allegedly used its own software to identify remote employees working another full-time job while employed by Equifax.
The firing of 24 remote employees from Equifax’s workforce is the result of a months-long internal investigation by the company, says Insider. The company allegedly looked through the records of at least 1,000 employees — including human resources and cybersecurity professionals — using its own software called The Work Number.
Equifax touts The Work Number as the “country’s largest centralised commercial database of income and employment information” on its website, a statement which is as much vague as it is Orwellian. Employees were notified of their colleagues’ termination via an email from Equifax CEO Mark Begor, which was obtained by Insider.
“We expect our team to be fully dedicated to EFX and have one role…their job at EFX,” Begor wrote in the email, where EFX refers to Equifax. “I am sure you are as disappointed as I am.”
We’re not. Apparently, 25 employees were interviewed by the company and all but one were terminated, saving the company a reported $US3.2 ($4) million. The investigation, which had cheeky nicknames like “Project Home Alone” and “Project Page 12,” also relied on data that consisted of manager feedback, low VPN usage (less than 13 hours per work week), and periods throughout the day where a worker was unavailable.
“Equifax followed all applicable laws in its handling of this situation,” said Equifax spokesperson Kate Walker. “These employees were terminated because of multiple factors, including in many cases their own admission that they had a secondary full-time position, which prevented them from fulfilling their full time obligations to Equifax.”
Equifax told Insider that the incredibly detailed and sensitive data collected and stored on The Work Number isn’t give out to third parties, but it’s a really dystopian moment when the company behind it is using it to keep their own employees in line. Equifax did not immediately return Gizmodo’s request for comment.