Equifax is cracking down on its employees, using its vast resources to ferret out and fire dozes for having a second job.
Equifax is one of the biggest credit monitoring and reporting agency. The company is reportedly cracking down on remote employees, firing at least two dozen for having a second job, according to Business Insider.
“We expect our team to be fully dedicated to EFX and have one role …their job at EFX,” CEO Mark Begor wrote in a company-wide email seen by Insider. “I am sure you are as disappointed as I am.”
The company used the noncompete agreement employees signed as the basis for firing them, although some say they never broke the agreement.
“They said, ‘when you started, you signed a paper, an agreement, for noncompete work,’” said one person, maintaining his “side hustle” did not compete with Equifax. “I was like ‘OK, but I wasn’t working in the same field.’”
The company also has access to a vast wealth of payroll and employment data, access for which it is already under fire. The company evidently used those employment records to find employees with side jobs.
Given the state of the economy and the trouble people have making ends meet, it’s Equifax is not going to win any goodwill or popularity contests for firing people that take on a second job, especially one that doesn’t compete with Equifax’s business. This incident will also likely spur further calls for action regarding the vast amount of data the company is collecting.
Begor’s statement that “I am sure you are as disappointed as I am,” may come back to haunt him.