Fake productivity, or when employees perform activities to look busy rather than create value, made headlines recently in the U.K., where several police officers working remotely were caught using “keyboard jamming” tricks to fool monitoring software.
Fineas Tatar, productivity expert and co-CEO of Viva, which hires, trains, and matches executive assistants with startup executives, says this reflects a growing anxiety across global workplaces, including the U.S.
“People aren’t faking work to be lazy. They’re doing it because they don’t feel safe resting,” he said. “When visibility is treated as proof of effort, employees learn to perform activity instead of producing results.”
New data from Microsoft’s Work Trend Index 2025 shows 85% of U.S. leaders don’t fully trust that their teams are productive, despite record activity levels. Employees now spend 57% of their time on communication tools like email, chat, and meetings, leaving less than half their day for focused work.
Tatar says this culture of “productivity paranoia,” or the anxiety of being seen as idle, is quietly draining innovation and morale across hybrid teams.
He identifies three ways leaders unknowingly create fake productivity:
1. Tracking motion instead of meaning: Rewarding responsiveness instead of results teaches teams to stay busy, not strategic.
2. Creating constant visibility pressure: The need to appear active on Slack or email replaces deep, uninterrupted focus.
3. Confusing control with clarity: Without clear priorities, employees rely on performance theatre to feel secure.
To reverse this trend, Tatar recommends three steps:
1. Audit for outcome alignment: Review which metrics actually connect to performance versus those that measure presence.
2. Normalize rest as part of productivity: Treat recovery time as a tool for focus, not as time off from value creation.
3. Model trust from the top: When leaders design their time intentionally and delegate effectively, it signals that focus and rest are safe.
“The crisis isn’t about low effort, it’s about misplaced energy. Anxiety-fueled productivity creates motion without impact, draining the focus leaders need to drive meaningful results,” Tatar said. “The solution isn’t more activity, but more clarity and trust.”
Photo credit: Andrii Iemelyanenko/iStock
Thanks for reading CPA Practice Advisor!
Subscribe Already registered? Log In
Need more information? Read the FAQs
