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, shocking an escaping employee who tries to run across them. Similar fences have been used for over 70 years to keep pets in their backyards.
“Working at home for three years can change a person’s mindset,” says Rita Hemmings of Chicago’s Ferguson Financial, where staffers finally returned six 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 in August.
“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, she says, 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.
“As much as I’d gotten used to working at home, I definitely didn’t like the concept of getting shocked,” says Melinda Ferguson, a marketing assistant who tried to escape twice. “And it’s good to know they care so much about my future that they’ll so whatever it takes to keep me at work.”
