A woman named Suzie Cheikho was dismissed from her job after her employer monitored her typing activity, leaving her anxious about future employment opportunities.
Remote work offers numerous advantages, such as eliminating commuting and multitasking with household chores during breaks.
However, for some, frequent breaks can negatively influence productivity.
Cheikho, who had been an Insurance Australia Group (IAG) consultant for 18 years, was terminated for inadequate work performance.
Her employer utilized keystroke technology to evaluate her work activity, following a warning she received in 2022 about her productivity levels.
Her responsibilities included creating insurance documents, adhering to regulatory deadlines, and monitoring ‘work from home compliance’.
Yet, the keystroke analysis indicated she was not meeting expectations.
Cheikho’s work activity was tracked over 49 days between October and December 2022, revealing she started late on 47 occasions and finished early on 29 of those days.
There were four days where she reportedly did no work, and on other days she was accused of minimal activity, averaging 54 keystrokes per hour.
Confronted with the data, Cheikho expressed disbelief in its accuracy, asserting to her managers that she had always worked.
In light of the viral story, Cheikho shared her concerns with MailOnline about her career prospects, stating, “It’s embarrassing that this story has gone viral – nobody is going to hire me,” and noted that in her 18 years at the company, she received only one warning.
She described feeling ‘confused and shocked’ by the data, attributing her performance issues to personal struggles affecting her mental health.
She claimed to have informed her managers about any necessary absences for medical appointments and insisted that she compensated for the time missed.
Cheikho filed an ‘unfair dismissal’ complaint against her previous employer, a leading insurance firm in Australia.
However, the claim was dismissed as Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC) determined there was a ‘valid reason of misconduct’. They found Cheikho had missed deadlines and meetings, was often unreachable, and caused her employer a penalty by not completing a task.