Upon ordering employees working from home to return to the office, US businesses are discovering that once they come back, many don’t like it and go back home. This has forced some to install invisible fences to keep them in.
The fences – actually wires buried underground – emit a strong electric jolt when an escaping employee walks or runs across them. Similar fences have been used for over 70 years to keep pets from running away.
“Working at home for three years can change a person’s mindset,” says Rita Hemmings of Chicago’s Ferguson Financial, where employees returned three months ago, most of them reluctantly.
At first the company exercised patience then employees took off. “We’d call them and say, ‘Why don’t you give it another try tomorrow?’” says Hemmings. But they kept getting out, she says, causing projects to stall, revenue to decline, and stockholders to complain. So the fences were installed on December 1 of last year.
“This isn’t a decision we made lightly,” says Hemmings. “A company concerned about its employees hesitates to jolt them with 19,000 volts.” Since the fences were installed, 600 people have tried to get across them – but only 120 more than once, and only six more than twice. Hemmings says this is likely due to voltage being doubled with each attempt.
There were some hard feelings at first, she says, but employees have grudgingly conceded the fences are necessary.
“I definitely didn’t like the idea of getting shocked,” says Melinda Ferguson, a marketing assistant who tried to get away twice. “But as they explained when they caught me, they care so much about my future me that they’ll so whatever it takes to help me hang onto my job.”
