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These 9-to-five phonies are just phoning it in.
Gen Z worker bees are only pretending to get the job done, buzzing around the office with paperwork to look busy and click-clacking on their keyboards to feign fastidiousness. This, according to stinging new data on the laziness of laborers.
“Sixty-six percent of employees and 73% of managers admit to faking productivity at work,” study authors for Software Finder, an expert discovery platform, revealed in a July 2026 report.
“The average worker burns five hours a week maintaining the appearance of productivity — that’s 32.5 days or nearly seven workweeks a year,” wrote the insiders, who found that 80% of Gen Zers, jobholders under age 28, are guilty of committing the shift sham.
The most egregious offenders, according to the study, are the breadwinning finance bros (and gals), with 85% of workers admitting to faking productivity.
But the charade isn’t solely due to generational shiftlessness.
Instead, it’s a pretense rooted in burnout, exhaustion and intense micromanagement from executives who value “visibility over results,” per the findings.
Researchers surveyed 1,003 full-time US professionals, including remote, hybrid and in-office workers, to understand the frequencies, reasons and methods for faking productivity.
The investigators determined that a staggering 53% of fully in-office workers feel forced to keep up appearances at their desks, while 49% and 41% of hybrid and fully remote employees echoed similar sentiments, respectively.
“Nearly half (49%) of workers who fake productivity said the pressure to appear busy contributed to burnout or exhaustion,” said the analysts. “The emotional toll also increased with company size.”
“Among workers who fake productivity, burnout rates climbed to 56% at organizations with more than 1,000 employees.”
Working under surveillance, too, puts a damper on employees’ spirits, as 63% said monitoring software “made them more likely to fake activity.”
“Overall, 75% of workers agreed that monitoring software makes employees more stressed rather than more productive,” discovered the specialists.
“Workers most often blamed fake productivity on the general workplace culture (27%) and on managers who measure presence over output (22%).”
To properly pull the wool over their bosses’ eyes, 56% of staffers move their computer mice periodically, while another 56% keep a decoy document or browser tab open as a performative measure. And an easy-going 43% strategically respond slowly to non-urgent messages to simulate activity.
But corporate underlings are the only folks faking the funk.
An eye-popping 75% of mid-level managers and 44% of directors and above copped to pulling the hustle and bustle hoax. While 46% admitted to posturing as productive in hopes of making a good impression on their overlords, a surprising 11% of managers, much like the employees, blamed HR or overbearing monitoring systems.
But the advisers suggest companies begin trusting rather than babysitting personnel.
“Many employees are not avoiding work. They are just responding to workplace cultures that still reward visibility as much as results,” the authorities explained. “As companies continue rethinking productivity in hybrid and digital environments, there’s an opportunity to reduce performative work by building healthier systems rooted in trust, flexibility and output.”
“Organizations that focus more on outcomes than appearances may be better positioned to improve both employee well-being and long-term productivity.”
