Choose The Best Private Investigator in Los Angeles: Paramount Investigative Services
Has “Double dipping” peaked?
In the era of COVID, remote work flourished. Nearly every company shifted to an either fully remote, or hybrid working model overnight – with the impact of that shift on the global job market never fully returning to what it once was. It's official: remote work is here to stay. For many companies, not needing to maintain an expensive office space has resulted in cost savings. In fact, it seems that the result of full remote work has been largely positive for many industries.
However, with so many rapid shifts happening in such a short span of time, many remote workers identified a loophole and potential opportunity: working multiple full-time/”W2″ jobs simultaneously. For some overachievers, they're able to maintain their regular deliverable output without so much as a minor dip in productivity. For many others, scamming the system has become a full-time job in and of itself, leaving no actual time for them to properly perform their at-work duties.
Over employment is all the rage right now. This occurs when an employee is secretly working
two full-time jobs.
If we catch your employee (remote workers are notorious for over employment schemes),
actively working two jobs, you may be able to terminate them for cause. This is an effective
way to eliminate bad actors within your organization. While this does not prevent a workers’
compensation claim outright, our experience shows the likelihood of a retaliatory claim is low,
as most employees choose to protect the second job rather than risk losing both.
Do you suspect an employee of working multiple jobs? Recent or unusual performance drop?
Los Angeles has been a remote worker's paradise for years. With countless large and small businesses offering remote work throughout the county, a steady increase in overemployment instances has been noted, with more and more businesses facing output and deliverable issues due to double, triple, and even quadruple-dipping employees stretching themselves too thin, and working for other companies while on the clock for a different employer! At Paramount Investigative Services, we've evolved with the times, and now offer comprehensive digital; a social media and online web investigation and field surveillance investigations to determine if an employee is committing suspected time theft in the form of falsified working hours, and performing other work while on the clock for your company.
What is “Overemployment”?
Overemployement is the term applied to remote workers who apply for, accept, and work multiple W2 / full-time jobs simultaneously. Meaning, their working hours overlap. These individuals will have multiple laptops open at once. The well-adjusted will maintain their “OE” status by performing the exact bare minimum to avoid getting fired, while news stories about overseas contractors applying for and working dozens of jobs simultaneously, not performing any of the work, then getting fired – but by the time they're fired, they will have already applied for and accepted dozens more! This evolution of work has resulted in a spectrum that ranges from unethically committing time theft while performing minimum duties (but at least adhering to them), to full-on scamming employers.
Why investigate potential overemployment?
In a two-party state like California, firing the individual in question isn't necessarily an “issue”. However, we've seen countless examples of individuals fired without cause successfully bringing their former employers to court, or citing things like disability or discrimination that place the employer in the line of fire once more. Firing with cause will nip any potential pushback or threats of lawsuits in the bud, protecting your business (and insurance) from costly and stressful legal battles. If you take the time to investigate suspected overemployment, we can arm you with the evidence you need to fire an employee with cause – protecting yourself and securing your business's finances.
What are some signs of overemployment?
There are a few telltale signs of overemployment:
- No LinkedIn profile, no LinkedIn profile picture, or no publicly listed work history
- Never on video during meetings / you don't know what they look like
- Slow to reply to Slack or Teams messages
- Missing in person meetings with lame last minute excuses?
While these are just a few examples, using your better judgement to determine how engaged an employee is can often be the best line of defense. If you suspect an employee is overemployed, give us a call for a free consultation – chances are, your gut feeling is correct! and for those who don't believe this is as wide spread as we're making it out to be, we implore you to cruise through reddit.com and substacks. See for yourself on how people are passing along tips and tricks in order for them to double their income. See how deliberate and underhanded they are.
Overemployment investigations in Los Angeles – protect your business from invisible time theft
Don't let your business become a victim to a scammer, or lazy worker committing time theft and expecting to be paid for it. Contact our team of investigators to conduct an overemployment investigation – we'll gather the necessary evidence so you can fire them with cause before any further financial damage can be done. Give us a call today for a free consultation!
