Indian 'jugaad' to beat workplace surveillance tool goes viral, sparks online debate

An X user tried to check if keeping a watch under the mouse really does keep the cursor active and responded excitedly, 'It works!' (Image credit: @typicalnawazish/X)

After reports emerged of tech companies using monitoring and surveillance tools to track employees' laptop and website activity, social media has been abuzz with concerns over workplace surveillance and Indian jugaad ideas highlighting the lengths employees are willing to go to outsmart it.

One such viral suggestion included a computer mouse balanced on an analogue watch whose moving second's hand keeps the cursor active even when the employee is away from the desk. X user Shukriya Karam Nawazish shared the image and wrote, "Dear team at Cognizant, To whomsoever it might concern."

As the post went viral, many called it the “ultimate IT jugaad” while a few X users took to sharing their own hacks. One tried checking if keeping a watch under the mouse keeps the cursor active and responded excitedly, "It works!"

Another user criticised surveillance-driven workplaces, saying: “A psychologically safe environment boosts outcomes. Tricks like this happen when employees spend more energy fooling the system than doing their jobs. Why do top CEOs push a lose-lose strategy?” A third X user claimed he had found a more sophisticated workaround. “I have a code for it. It presses all the buttons one by one without actually pressing them. ProHance can’t detect it.”

Another chimed in with his own low-tech hack. “I’m at the hospital for a consultation… I just kept an orange on the space bar and came.”

How the new monitoring tool works

The tool, ProHance, tracks how employees use their systems. It logs mouse and keyboard activity, records which software and websites are accessed, and flags users as “idle” after five minutes of inactivity or “away” after 15 minutes. It also builds a detailed timeline of the workday, from login duration to breaks and time spent on each task, to identify inefficiencies and improve overall workflow.

Meanwhile, responding to the concerns of privacy and the pressure of being constantly monitored, Cognizant clarified to The Times of India that ProHance is used only in specific projects, mainly within business process management and automation teams, and only when requested by clients. The company added that employees are informed in advance, must give consent, and that the software is not used to evaluate performance or make staffing decisions, but to understand client processes more accurately.