Gen Zs fake it to make it: Shocking survey reveals 66% of young workers are pretending to be productive at work

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. Gen Zers make up the largest group of employees guilty of faking productivity at work, according to a new report. Drobot Dean – stock.adobe.com “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