Another source[1] had more info about "The Macro":
Many of our California sales representatives received access to a software tool called a “Macro” that may have allowed them to complete mandatory online pre-licensing education courses offered by a third-party test preparation provider in less than the legally required 52 total hours. The Macro functioned to keep a person logged into the course and prevented the person from being logged out for inactivity. The Macro did not advance through the required material or quizzes in the education course -- the Macro only kept the person logged in. The Macro only pertained to the prelicensing education course and did not affect the broker exam taken later. Use of the Macro enabled -- but did not cause -- a person to spend less than the 52 hours of required time in the prelicensing course.
Ok, I have no judgement about the morals of this but I think the "hacker" mentality is hilarious.
I was at a Fortune 100 company that had an obligatory "security training" webcast that you had to watch and then at the end, answer some test questions. This was required to get a door badge and network id. Well, one programmer simply wrote a script to "watch" the video and automatically answer the questions. The manager knew we all used it and condoned it because the security video was out-of-date and irrelevant.
I can see someone at Zenefits using that mentality and justifying it because skipping the training material gave them no benefit to passing the actual exam.
There is a bit of fun to be poked at startups/the hacker mentality in this case, sure.
But what's appears to be a refreshing break from what happens when big corporations are caught red-handed, is that the leaders responsible have been fired/disciplined, while the employees on the floor have been told they will not be punished (though they will be if such things happen again).
At least that's what I understand from the email reproduced in the BuzzFeed article linked in another comment.
Love the passive voice "may have received access to" -- OK, who gave them access I wonder?
I would normally applaud the hacker mentality of using a computer to automate stupid or repetitive tasks, as long as any dishonesty is limited to a white lie. Like the obligatory security training video watching. But running a compliance company that doesn't comply seems more fundamentally problematic.
Sounds to me like the real problem was in the test. If someone can get by without actually absorbing the material then they should be given the pass, if they can't then it's a different story. Of course as soon as the program starts answering test questions or something like that it is a different matter but to spend less time than required and still pass means that either the test is inadequate or the course is needlessly fluffy.
Because while company A is lobbying for change through the front door, company B is eating A's lunch by innocuously bending the law through the back door.
History won't remember that A did the right thing; only that B made it to their next round of funding and A folded.
The "hacker" and "hustler" mentality is also largely driven by expectations of growth when you take $500M in a Series C. When you have that much riding on a company you've built and you have been told to hustle, then you're going to do whatever it takes even if that means breaking the law.
Well, you might. And perhaps that's the difference between you and people who realize that going to jail is considerably worse than going out of business.
The article directly references one of the steps taken by management once this became an issue being a company wide ban on all use of "iMacros" -- not just "the Macro", so that's probably the case.
Many of our California sales representatives received access to a software tool called a “Macro” that may have allowed them to complete mandatory online pre-licensing education courses offered by a third-party test preparation provider in less than the legally required 52 total hours. The Macro functioned to keep a person logged into the course and prevented the person from being logged out for inactivity. The Macro did not advance through the required material or quizzes in the education course -- the Macro only kept the person logged in. The Macro only pertained to the prelicensing education course and did not affect the broker exam taken later. Use of the Macro enabled -- but did not cause -- a person to spend less than the 52 hours of required time in the prelicensing course.
Ok, I have no judgement about the morals of this but I think the "hacker" mentality is hilarious.
I was at a Fortune 100 company that had an obligatory "security training" webcast that you had to watch and then at the end, answer some test questions. This was required to get a door badge and network id. Well, one programmer simply wrote a script to "watch" the video and automatically answer the questions. The manager knew we all used it and condoned it because the security video was out-of-date and irrelevant.
I can see someone at Zenefits using that mentality and justifying it because skipping the training material gave them no benefit to passing the actual exam.
[1]http://www.businessinsider.com/zenefits-using-secret-fake-tr...