Illusion of work | 'Keyboard jamming' - What can HR do when employees fake their productivity?

Reports that dozens of police staff have been dismissed for “keyboard jamming” have pushed an uncomfortable workplace issue back into the spotlight: how employers deal with workers who appear busy but are not actually working.

The term refers to employees deliberately generating keyboard activity to appear productive while working remotely. In some cases, workers repeatedly press the same key or physically hold a key down using objects such as drink cans or staplers to trick monitoring systems into registering activity.

Recent reports suggest more than 50 police officers and civilian staff across UK constabularies have been sacked or forced to resign over the practice in the past three years. In one case, an officer admitted to weighing down the “Z” key during shifts for a total of 103 hours between June and September 2024.

The cases have sparked debate about remote work oversight and employee accountability. But experts warn that the phenomenon is neither new nor confined to police forces.