Why Faking Work Isn’t the Real Problem

Earlier this summer, a major U.S. financial institution announced it had fired employees for faking work. According to CNN, these employees were apparently manipulating their computer keyboards or mice to create the illusion that they were working while they were—heaven forbid—engaging in non-work activities on company time.

The media has been abuzz with stories of this same ilk. Taken together, they document a rising trend of workers finding dishonest—and sometimes creative—ways to shirk their job duties.

The Wall Street Journal recently called attention to another form of faking work by proclaiming this “the summer of the quiet vacation.” In its article, the Journal described employees who, rather than use their vacation time, “take mini vacations behind the façade of ‘working’ remotely.”

These stories join many others about “quiet quitting,” a phenomenon in which workers don’t quit their jobs—or fake their work—but instead do just the minimum job requirements.

Is faking work an actual trend?

Given the attention devoted to the faking work “trend,” one could conclude that employee engagement is dead and that companies should worry more than ever that workers aren’t earning their pay.

But let’s dig deeper.

The financial institution that fired those employees for faking their work? It employed 226,000 employees at the end of 2023. And how many of these 226,000 employees were fired for faking work?

Twelve.

Yes, 12. That’s slightly more than 0.0053 percent of the company’s total workforce.

As for the other faking work behaviors, rather than viewing them as a troubling trend, let’s call them what they are—old news. There have always been employees who phone it in, try to pull a fast one on their supervisors, or do as little as possible.

What’s changed? Mostly, the rise of remote or hybrid work and the growth of virtual teams. As work has, in many organizations, evolved away from employees working in shared physical spaces, employee productivity has, for better or worse, come under greater scrutiny. The media has done its part by blowing the productivity “problem” way out of proportion.

The one thing proven to increase engagement

So, what are leaders to believe? And, more importantly, what can they do to ensure their people are productive?

“I’ve seen the headlines, and I think we’re overweighting the behavior of a few bad actors,” says Leslie Caputo, Vice President, Global Solutions, at EZRA Coaching. Instead, Leslie insists, leaders are better off focusing on building the one thing proven to increase employee engagement—trust.

“There’s a lot of research showing that in work environments where trust is high, employees are more engaged, they’re more productive, and they’re more likely to stay,” Leslie says.

Unlike work itself, trust is nearly impossible to fake. And Leslie explains that when employees feel a high degree of trust and don’t fear retribution, they are more willing to openly share their opinions and ideas.

The downside of spying on employees

Some companies have begun using technology—such as the “bossware” that caught the 12 fake workers—to monitor employees and ensure they are working when on the clock. Leslie views these measures as unethical. She also sees them as a surefire way to destroy trust, increase worker stress, and prompt workers to take more sick days.

A better approach is to focus on whether employees get their work done instead of on how they spend their time.

“The antidote to workers doing less is to have clear performance expectations and KPIs for your people,” says Leslie. “That way, you don’t have to spend so much time wondering if they’re doing their jobs because you’ll have clear ways to tell.”

Alice Schulte, an EZRA Executive Coach, suggests using a written tool for capturing completed work, as well as any issues or feedback that needs to be shared with the leader. This document, which also spells out planned work, can serve as the agenda for the one-on-one update meetings leaders have with their team members.

“Another great thing about this document is that if the meeting doesn’t happen, for whatever reason, the team member can still send it to the boss to keep them updated.”

How leaders can build trust

Every leader should prioritize building and maintaining a trusting work environment for their team. The good news is that it isn’t that difficult to do.

Alice says leaders need to be more “coach-like.”

“They should ask instead of tell. And they need to ask open-ended questions instead of yes-no questions to demonstrate a sincere and authentic interest in their employees. Plus, they need to provide a forum for employees to talk about their accomplishments and challenges. It boils down to setting clear expectations and good communication. It’s not hard.”

Building trust may not be hard, but it is important. More important, in fact, than fretting about how many of your workers are slacking off or neglecting their work responsibilities.

“In organizations, we can conflate literally being at your desk all day with performance,” says Leslie. “And, unlike faking work, that’s truly problematic.”

For more leadership and workplace insights, check out the EZRA Asks podcast on most major podcast platforms.