Prior to the pandemic, online education was already thriving. And industries that require mostly computer work were seeing the benefits of letting people labor from home. But the pandemic pushed the workforce to remote platforms and accelerated the progress in both education and industry toward remote work.
And along with it, something else escalated. Cheating.
The increase of online and remote work has resulted in an equally astounding escalation in unethical behavior. People who work and study at home do not have the same accountability measures as those who go to a brick-and-mortar site for study or work. Not surprisingly, they are taking advantage of this lack of accountability.
Lying to your employer
It is fairly obvious that remote employees can take advantage of their status. They can be lazy when they say they are working or skip remote meetings for a day at the beach. But the new remote culture allows employees to cheat in a unique way—they hold down more than one job, and strategically hide it while making more money.
The founders of Overemployed.com advocate for this new version of employment by promoting it as a means for financial freedom. Hold down two remote jobs, spend time with family or at leisure, and just work when you want. Overemployed.com also advocates this to build a nest egg and gain financial freedom. All sounds reasonable, doesn’t it?
Working two jobs is nothing new. People have done it for centuries. Earning extra money to retire early or reach a financial goal is commendable and, within healthy limits, reasonable.
But this is different. Overworked.com, and similar advocates of the new work culture, overtly endorse lying to your bosses and cheating the system to keep two jobs. In a video linked to the site, one such advocate says that he sees “nothing unethical” about it.
But these workers, interviewed by Fox news and insisting that they remain anonymous for fear of reprisal or, in some cases, even arrest, admit that they are unethical. They dodge meetings because they need to work their second job, they play video games on their employers’ time, and, in most instances, rarely even work a 40-hour week at either job. They spend more time scamming the system than they do working their jobs.
Mostly they capitalize on the lack of accountability. When no one is monitoring your habits or watching you clock out, and you don’t have to take the time to drive to another location for that second job, it’s easy to slide into unethical habits.
Increased cheating at colleges
Even before the pandemic pushed classes onto off-campus formats, cheating had increased in higher education due to the remote models of learning. But, according to a report by NPR, as colleges moved online in the COVID-19 crisis, universities reported dramatic increases in academic misconduct.
At Virginia Commonwealth University, reports of academic misconduct soared during the 2020-21 school year, to more than three times the previous year’s number. At Ohio State University, reported incidents of cheating were up more than 50% over the previous year.
The stress from Covid exacerbates the problem. Being pushed off-campus and the loss of personal interaction with friends can depress and frustrate students. Students suffer from the lack of the support system a campus environment provides. And students, like many remote employees, are Zoomed-out, weary from online classes and meetings. They would rather take short-cuts than log on for yet another session.
And then, in addition, colleges and universities fight against a cottage industry of websites and resources that provide students with completed papers and test answers for a fee. Professors are regularly mystified by the sheer audacity of these sites and the students who use them, but no sooner is one shut down than another site pops up to take its place.
I’ve been teaching online college classes for more than fifteen years, and I can attest that cheating is rampant in remote education and, sadly, that many Christian students are following the secular crowd.
How should Christians respond?
Christians who work or study remotely are faced with the same temptations. Maybe you are not tempted to get two jobs and go to all the trouble to keep each employer in the dark, but you may be tempted to take short cuts, play when you should be working, lie to get out of meetings, cheat on tests, or take advantage of the lack of accountability in other ways.
Christians are not impervious to these temptations. But Christians in particular should guard against falling into this trend for one simple reason.
You might draw a paycheck from your employer, and you might get your grades from your university, but ultimately, you work for Him (1 Cor. 10:31).
Following Christ doesn’t stop at the keyboard. Your studies have always been under His Lordship and your work has always been for His glory. Changing the location doesn’t alter the purpose (Col. 3:23).
With that in mind, if you work or study remotely, remember this:
- Your life is a stewardship. Give God your best (1 Cor. 4:1-2).
Christians should seek to produce the best they are capable of. Not because it might get us a scholarship or a promotion. Sure, those are worthy outcomes. But when it comes down to it, it’s not about money, and it’s not about grades. It’s about serving Him.
Life is a precious gift. Our integrity, our productivity, and our accountability are all faith-based. We operate under the assumption that we have a job, or we are earning a degree, not so we can pad our pockets or raise our status, but so that we can return to God our best (Matt. 25:14-30).
We work and study because we anticipate that He will use our work for His greater good. The mind that cannot see past the keyboard is a shallow, faithless mind that misses the mark of what God intended (Col. 3:1-2).
- Take sin seriously (2 Cor. 7:1).
A lazy attitude toward unethical behavior shows a dangerous indifference to sin. Your life is lived with the knowledge that one day God will hold you accountable for what you do. Just because a human being doesn’t catch you cheating doesn’t mean you are getting away with it (1 Cor. 4:3-5).
Also, remember that when you intentionally and knowingly sin, you disrupt your fellowship with God. Sure, He loves you and He will forgive you if you confess your sin, but even so, unrighteous and unethical behavior inhibits your walk with Christ (1 John 1:9-10, Ps. 5:4).
- Remember you are accountable to Him (Heb. 4:13).
How you treat your work, or your studies, directly impacts your relationship with Christ, regardless of whether you get caught for scamming the system. Ultimately, and always, you are accountable to Christ.
When you log on, you represent the God you serve. You adhere to principles of ethical behavior because God desires it. You do it please Him (2 Cor. 5:9). Your every action reflects your relationship with God.
With every action you take at the keyboard, you choose to either honor Him or dishonor Him. Which will you do today?
So then, each of us will give an account of himself to God.
Romans 14:12