Slacker attack! Gen Z masters the art of looking busy at work

For some workers, looking busy has become part of the job description — and Gen Z has turned it into an art form.A new survey of 1,003 full-time US professionals found that 80% of Gen Z workers admit to faking productivity after finishing their real work — the highest rate of any generation, well ahead of millennials at 68% and Gen X at 58%, according to Software Finder, a technology consulting firm.But Gen Z isn’t alone.Overall, 66% of employees admitted they’ve pretended to stay busy after wrapping up their work.On average, they spend nearly five hours a week keeping up appearances — the equivalent of roughly 32 workdays, or almost seven full workweeks a year.Instead of logging off and risking a manager’s disapproval, many resort to simple tricks to appear active.Among Gen Z workers, 56% admit they periodically jiggle their mouse or keep a decoy browser tab or document open, while 43% deliberately delay responding to non-urgent messages to make themselves look busier than they really are.Hybrid employees were the biggest offenders overall, with 76% admitting they fake productivity, compared with 66% of remote workers and 57% of employees who work in the office full time.Managers aren’t exactly setting the example, either.

Nearly three-quarters (73%) admitted they’ve also pretended to be busy — usually for the benefit of their own bosses.Only 18% of workers said they feel guilty about the behavior, while just 7% resent having to do it.“It’s not that they’re rejecting work — they’re rejecting the notion that sitting at a desk until 5 p.m.automatically equals productivity,” Marium Lodhi, chief marketing officer at Software Finder, told The Post.“A better question isn’t, ‘How do we get employees to look busy?’ It’s, ‘How do we reward employees who finish great work quickly?'”More than half of workers who fake productivity said they complete their assignments at least an hour before quitting time, while 22% finish two or mo...