WFH woes | What 'keyboard jamming' cases tell us about productivity paranoia

In a recent misconduct hearing, a former detective was found to have spent dozens of hours faking work from home by “key jamming” - holding down a single key to trick his laptop into showing activity. It was deliberate, dishonest, and rightly classed as gross misconduct. No HR professional would dispute that.

But the case raises a wider question. Why are we still in an era where so many workers - whether in policing, banking, or any other profession - feel they must prove they are working, rather than simply be trusted to do so?