PROXITOL’s new ScareBoss – designed to prevent slacking in the workplace from returning employees who aren’t used to having a boss around – is set to hit the market in June.
A lifelike mannequin made of synthetic bylenol and customized to look just like the boss, it can be positioned leaning against a file cabinet, peeking around a corner, or standing outside the restroom so workers think the real, live boss is watching them.
Even though the ScareBoss doesn’t speak or move, a late 2020 test at six US companies with onsite workers showed that productivity improved by an average of 93.3 percent when one was present.
“We discovered that if people think there’s even a chance the boss is watching, they’ll work a lot harder,” says Geannie Willisin, PROXITOL’s Director of Projectivity.
The ScareBoss can also be used for people who are still working from home. “You just put it in a car parked in the driveway,” says Willison, “or have it looking in the living room window.”
Says an accountant at one of the test companies: “You see her standing outside her office, dead still, and her eyes aren’t even blinking. Logically you know it’s not really her, that it’s probably just a dummy. But then again, what if it really is her?” The mere possibility, he says, was enough to keep him working 12-hour days for the entire test period.
PROXITOL – which also created the Stand-In Parent for households where parents are at work more than 80 percent of the time – will manufacture 250,000 ScareBosses to start. Each will sell for $15.999, with a $10 discount for companies purchasing more than one.
SEE: Lifelike Stand-Ins Allow Parents to Spend More Time At Work
