Undercover Boss

Undercover Boss is an American television show (based on a British show of the same name, and later produced in other countries) originally airing on CBS in 2010, continuing to 2022. (The premiere, broadcast immediately after Super Bowl XLIV, was one of the largest post-Super Bowl broadcasts in terms of viewership, and the highest rated and most watched single episode of any show in the 2010 decade.)

The format features a high-ranking executive of a company (often the founder or the CEO, though on two occasions the mayor of a city, and once the president of a public university) working as a low-level employee under an alias (disguising himself/herself using various forms) and a fictional backstory (which has changed over time). Generally the executive works three different jobs over a one-week period, most often in different locations, getting to know the person supervising him/her that day, both professionally and personally.

At the end of the week the executive returns to headquarters where the employees featured are summoned, whereupon the executive reveals his/her true identity. (From time to time, the executive either blows his/her own cover, or an employee recognizes the executive, whereupon the executive admits the ruse.) The executive then rewards the employee through advancement in the company and/or a financial reward (and, sometimes, a donation to a special charity of the employee), in addition the executive seeks to make changes to operations. (On at least one occasion, an employee was terminated on the spot for severely unprofessional behavior.)

The companies are selected by the show's producers, no company either pays or is paid by the network to be featured, and the companies have no control over the final show product other than to be promised that the company's reputation will not be deliberately harmed.