“Fake hard work” at work: Many employees fake productivity

Online status on green

According to Indeed, such measures include, among other things, artificially maintaining attendance Online status in the home office (27.7 percent), longer Stay in the officebecause the manager is still present (25.4 percent), deliberately at unusual times emails sent (23.2 percent) or Requests to speak in conferences without added value in order to show presence (22.3 percent).

17.3 percent have already left their jacket or bag in the office to feign presence. 56.6 percent said openly that they came to the office primarily to “show their face”.

According to KURIER research, no figures from Austria are currently known.

Visibility instead of quality

“The debate about office presence has left a problematic signal in many companies: It is not the quality of work that matters, but rather its visibility,” said Indeed’s managing director Frank Hensgens to the survey results. “But when employees start to stage their presence instead of focusing on results, it is neither efficient for companies nor sustainable for employees,” he emphasized.

The survey suggests that the office has partially lost its function as a productive place to work. “Especially at a time when there is a lot of talk about Germany’s competitiveness, we should ask ourselves whether we are really setting the right incentives or whether we have created a system in which presence seems more important than performance.” And he added: “Anyone who demands attendance above all should not be surprised if this is precisely what is optimized.”

Attendance control shapes corporate culture

According to the survey results, the reasons for this behavior lie primarily in internal company structures and the economic situation. 32.5 percent of those surveyed criticized a corporate culture characterized by attendance control, while 31.6 percent cited concerns about their own job in view of the economic situation. 24.4 percent see Pressure or micromanagement from superiors as a trigger. A majority of respondents (55.9 percent) were of the opinion that their employer values ​​attendance more highly than measurable results. But 66.2 percent would forego five percent or more of their salary if their performance were measured solely by results. Even more, namely 70 percent, would be willing to accept such financial losses for the opportunity to work from home permanently.