Does your WFH setup include a device that keeps your mouse moving even when you’re not at your desk? We didn’t think so, but that doesn’t mean some in the workforce aren’t trying to trick Teams and Slack—and nosy managers—into thinking they’re hard at work when they’re actually folding laundry or rewatching Succession.

Mouse jigglers are the latest worker response to the new and uncertain world of post-pandemic work, where some workers are anxious, some employers are paranoid, seemingly nobody’s happy, and increased workplace surveillance can be seriously flawed.

Jigglers can range from $3 to over $60 on Amazon, and while they make for splashy headlines and great fodder for TikTok content, people professionals who spoke with HR Brew about the topic say, if employees are using these tools, it’s a sign of a bigger workplace issue.

Find a better way to measure productivity. “There’s a feeling [that] presenteeism equates to trust, and it’s a very old-school managerial mentality…You don’t trust that I’m doing the right things or using my time in the right way, or that I’m present, or that I don’t have three other jobs, that I’m not screwing you over,” said Mark Stelzner, co-founder and leader at management and consulting firm IA.

“Focus on input versus output,” he said. “Input is presenteeism. Input is time. Input is my Slack channel shows that I’m green or my Team’s channel shows that I’m on and active. What’s the outcome?...If I have a full-time job and the outcome is to incent me to get as efficient and effective as possible, if I can do my job in four hours a day, why isn’t that celebrated?”

Madison Butler, DE&I and culture consultant and CPO at cannabis glassware company GRAV, told HR Brew that managers need to be focused on the outcomes and “actually have the conversations on KPIs, metrics, and day-to-day.”

Reconsider surveillance. “There’s a lot of monitoring, and there is a lot of information about employees’ work. Everything you do online, the employer knows,” said Josh Bersin, HR industry analyst and founder and CEO of human capital advisory firm the Josh Bersin Company. “That data is available. Nobody really looks at it very much, but they can if they decide to.”

Keep reading.—AD

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It’s not quite the “Great Resignation,” but the siren’s call of entrepreneurship appears to be luring people away from their office jobs.

Most volatile times don’t spark an increase in startup activity, according to Luke Pardue, economist at Gusto, a small-business HR platform. But the Covid-19 era has been different.

“We’ve been seeing this huge surge in entrepreneurship…There were 5 million new business applications [in 2022], which is up about 40%,” Pardue told HR Brew.

Recently published research from Gusto suggests that frustration with the nine-to-five, including a lack of desired wages and flexibility is leading people to attempt to strike out on their own. In 2022, 41% of owners started a business because they were “concerned about their financial stability or wanted to supplement their household income,” up from 24% in 2021.

DIY DE&I. Since 2020, at least 47% of new businesses have been started by women, up from 29% before the pandemic, according to Gusto. Black entrepreneurs were more likely than white entrepreneurs to start a business for financial stability or greater flexibility.

“At a time when folks are rethinking their lives and choices, it is not surprising that more Black women are electing to become CEOs of their own companies, rather than waiting for their intelligence and skills to be recognized at their current firms,” Melissa Bradley, founder and managing partner of 1863 Ventures, an agency for entrepreneurs of color, told Insider.

This pull is hitting people of all ages. Younger workers (aged 25–34) were the most likely to quit their jobs to make more money with their own business, while workers-turned-entrepreneurs aged 35–54 were most likely to say they left because of burnout.

Keep reading.—AK

Today’s top HR reads.

Stat: Child-labor violations have increased by 69% since 2018, and now the USDA is increasing prevention efforts in meat and poultry processing facilities. (USDA)

Quote: “Go on an African safari or take a painting class!!...Write a book or become a yoga instructor!!”—Bain & Co. in a message to its incoming class of MBA hires, as the consulting firm offers to pay new hires to delay start dates by as much as a year (the Wall Street Journal)

Read: The business lunch is another victim of the pandemic, as remote work and in-office work habits change the way employees dine out. (the Washington Post)