Suzie Cheikho, a remote worker who was fired from her job at Australia's largest insurance company, Insurance Australia Group (IAG), has spoken out over a year after losing her job.
According to a Hindustan Times report, Cheikho, who had been with IAG for 18 years, was terminated in February 2023 after the company used keystroke technology to monitor her work-from-home (WFH) performance. According to the company, Cheikho's laptop activity, including late logins, early logouts, and low keystroke counts, suggested she was not performing her duties adequately.
In a now-deleted TikTok video, Cheikho expressed her distress over the situation, saying, “This has never happened to me before, and for what?” She also revealed that she is now worried she may never find a job again and is facing online harassment since her story went viral.
On LinkedIn, Cheikho has indicated that she is "open to work," highlighting the challenges she is facing in her job search.
Keystroke technology, which tracks and analyzes the sequence and timing of key presses on a computer, is increasingly being used by employers to monitor remote workers' productivity. In Cheikho's case, IAG allegedly found that she logged in late 47 times, logged out early 29 times, and failed to work her rostered hours for 44 days. Additionally, on four days, she did not clock in any work hours, and her average keystrokes per hour were a mere 54.
At the time of her termination, Cheikho did not accept the company's allegations, stating that she "did not believe for a minute" that she had worked less and that the company had a "premeditated plan to remove her from the business" due to her mental health issues.
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