LeadershipNot yet confirmed elsewhere1 publisher2 min readPublished
A quarter of employees have delayed simple tasks to look busy, a MyPerfectResume poll finds
MyPerfectResume polling finds 70% of employees believe visible workers are rewarded more than quiet performers. The figures are self-reports, so a manager must first learn what their own recognition pays for.
The Board Room · Leadership desk
MyPerfectResume poll: 70% of employees think visible workers are rewarded more; 65% spend some of the day on productivity theatre; 84% have replied instantly to signal attentiveness, 68% frequently or occasionally; 50% feel pressed to prove value; 25% delayed simple tasks to look busy.
- 70 % of employees Think visible workers get more, claim 1
- 65 % of employees Lose some of the day to theatre, claim 4
- 84 % of employees Reply instantly to look attentive, claim 6 68% frequently or occasionally
- 50 % of employees Feel pressure to prove value, claim 8
- 25 % of employees Delayed simple tasks to look busy, claim 2
| Figure | Value | Note | Claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Think visible workers get more | 70 % of employees | 1 | |
| Lose some of the day to theatre | 65 % of employees | 4 | |
| Reply instantly to look attentive | 84 % of employees | 68% frequently or occasionally | 6 |
| Feel pressure to prove value | 50 % of employees | 8 | |
| Delayed simple tasks to look busy | 25 % of employees | 2 |
What happened
- A quarter of employees admitted delaying simple tasks to appear busy longer, and 17% said they stretched out tasks or revisited completed work.
- 65% of employees said at least some of their average workday goes to productivity theatre instead of meaningful work.
- 84% said they have answered messages immediately at least rarely, mainly to signal attentiveness.
- Half of employees feel pressured to constantly prove their value, 30% cite heavy surveillance and monitoring, and 28% say management does not trust them.
Why it matters
- constraint Every figure is an employee's own report of a belief or a behaviour, so the poll shows what workers think managers reward and cannot show what managers do reward.
- contradiction The report ranks a belief about rewards as the top driver, yet its own conclusion ties the behaviour to job security, trust and how value is measured, so recognition changes alone address part of the cause.
- cost A fifth of workers report giving at least a quarter of the day to productivity theatre, and the employer is paying for that time.
- decision A manager has to choose this quarter between auditing what reviews pay for and starting with monitoring and trust; the audit's answer decides whether the 70% is a misperception or an accurate description of the firm.
Madison's question is a test a manager can run on their own records. Madison, a global employee recognition firm, said there is "nothing inherently wrong" with leaders noticing highly visible employees [16]. Its blog post went on: "But there is an increasingly important question leaders should be asking: Are we recognising employees for the value they create, or for how visible their effort happens to be?" [17]. The report names the perception that being more performative means more reward as the top driver of the behaviour [7].
Recognition is only part of the cause, and the report says so itself. It found that 17% of workers frequently and 40% occasionally worry that appearing "too idle" could hurt their job security or career growth [11][12]. That is 57% in total [18]. The report's conclusion was that "Together, the findings suggest that performative busyness can be tied to questions of job security, trust, and how workers believe their value is measured" [13]. A manager who rewrites recognition criteria and leaves monitoring and job-security anxiety alone has changed how value is measured and left job security and trust where they were.
The 2025 Connext Global KPI Confidence Gap Survey points the same way [14]. According to the coverage, Connext's report said the fix means "replacing 'always on' availability with clear, outcome-based goals, trading performative busyness for real execution, and holding leaders to consistent standards instead of moving targets" [15]. That is a prescription about goals and leadership consistency, and on its own it does not establish whether employees believe it.
The coverage of the MyPerfectResume poll does not include a sample size, fieldwork dates, whether respondents could report more than one behaviour, or whether its definition of the behaviour matched Connext's. The 25% who delayed tasks and the 17% who stretched them out therefore cannot be added together [2][3]. The MyPerfectResume figures cannot be set beside Connext's either.
This quarter, the check is internal: what do the firm's reviews and recognition programmes reward, and what does its monitoring count? If outcomes already win, the 70% is a communication problem, and the trust and monitoring items in the poll are the next place to look [1]. If visibility wins, the belief is accurate, and changing recognition has to come before anything else.
What to watch
- Publication of the poll's sample size, fieldwork dates and question wording, which would show whether the 25% figure and Connext's 66% can be compared.
- Employer data showing performative behaviour falling after a move to outcome-based goals, as Connext recommends.
- Review and promotion records that show which employees actually get rewarded, the direct test of the 70% belief.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence35
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+25
- Incentives40
- Confidence40
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
A recent MyPerfectResume poll found that 70% of employees believe highly visible workers are rewarded more than workers who quietly produce strong results.
- [2]
25% of employees admitted they have delayed simple tasks to appear busy longer.
- [3]
17% of employees said they have stretched out tasks or revisited completed work.
- [4]
65% of employees said at least some portion of their average workday is spent on productivity theatre instead of meaningful work.
- [5]
About one in five workers confessed that they spend at least one-quarter of the day on productivity theatre.
- [6]
84% of employees admitted they have responded to messages immediately at least rarely, primarily to signal attentiveness, with 68% doing so frequently or occasionally.
- [7]
The top driver behind performative busyness is the perception that being more performative means more reward, according to the findings.
- [8]
50% of employees feel pressured to constantly prove their value, 30% said companies focus too heavily on surveillance and monitoring, and 28% said they do not feel trusted by management.
- [9]
30% of employees said companies are focusing too heavily on surveillance and monitoring.
- [10]
28% of employees said they do not feel trusted by management.
- [11]
17% of workers frequently worry that appearing 'too idle' can negatively impact their job security or career growth.
- [12]
40% of workers occasionally worry that appearing 'too idle' can negatively impact their job security or career growth.
- [13]
The report read: "Together, the findings suggest that performative busyness can be tied to questions of job security, trust, and how workers believe their value is measured".
- [14]
The 2025 Connext Global KPI Confidence Gap Survey showed that 66% of employees are engaging in performative behaviours to make themselves seen more at work, such as accepting extra tasks or staying late.
ReportedSupportedSource: 2025 Connext Global KPI Confidence Gap Survey, as reported by hcamag.comView cited source - [15]
Connext's report said addressing the behaviour "means replacing 'always on' availability with clear, outcome-based goals, trading performative busyness for real execution, and holding leaders to consistent standards instead of moving targets".
- [16]
Madison, a global employee recognition firm, said there is "nothing inherently wrong" with leaders noticing highly visible employees.
- [17]
Madison said in a recent blog post: "But there is an increasingly important question leaders should be asking: Are we recognising employees for the value they create, or for how visible their effort happens to be?"
- [18]
57% of workers worry at least occasionally that appearing too idle could hurt job security or career growth.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- hcamag.com'Performative busyness': New workplace trend blamed on rewarding visibility more
1 article · October 11, 2026
Topics and entities
Follow any of these and your For You feed starts watching them — no settings page required.
Topics
- Workplace cultureFollow
- Workplace monitoringFollow
- Employee recognitionFollow