Equifax fired at least two dozen employees after it used its own tool to suss out if workers had a second job

ddefrancesco@businessinsider.com (Dan DeFrancesco) -

Four of the big six US banks (JPMorgan, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo) all report their Q3 earnings today. Our friends over at Markets Insider will have the immediate reaction to all the revenue numbers as they're posted. As for how bank executives respond to analysts' questions about "zooming in" or "double clicking" on particular topics, we've got you covered.

In the meantime, we've got lots to talk about, including a JPMorgan-Kanye West breakup, why you probably don't want to rely on "finfluencers" for financial advice, and the death of an emoji.

But first, Equifax would like a word with you.


Credit reporting company Equifax Inc. corporate offices are pictured in Atlanta, Georgia. REUTERS/Tami Chappell© Provided by Business Insider

1. Say sayonara to your side hustle.

That's clearly the message at Equifax, which fired at least 24 workers for secretly having second jobs, Insider reported Thursday.

On paper that might not seem too surprising. The credit-reporting giant does hold a ton of sensitive data and doesn't have a spotless record when it comes keeping that data secure. It might be in its best interest to make sure everyone is soley focused on their job.

But it's moreso how they went about discovering those side hustles.

An Insider report uncovered the company actually used its own product, The Work Number (TWN), as part of a larger investigation to suss out if people had multiple jobs. TWN includes employment records of 105 million US workers, including their payroll information.

That might seem like a shining endorsement of TWN — "This thing is so good we use it ourselves!" —but in reality it's more likely to upset the rank and file.

"I'm not sure how Equifax can be trusted with data when it uses it to spy on its own employees," an Equifax employee told Insider.

Spying on employees isn't necessarily a new phenomenon. But the rise of remote work made previous metrics — like when an employee would swipe into and out of the office — essentially useless. The resulting environment has forced companies to get creative.

JPMorgan is one of the biggest examples of this, as Insider has previously reported. The bank spun up an entire proprietary system for keeping tabs on folks.