Keyboard jamming: the sneaky way to make your boss think you're working from home

"Microsoft Teams, for example, shows that a user is inactive after five minutes of, well, inactivity. Big Brother is watching! But people have been pulling the wool over his eyes by keyboard jamming. That sounds as if it requires digital expertise. Not so much. You open a file, then put an object a stapler, say on your keyboard to make it look as if you're typing."

"Employers are fighting back, investing in tools that don't merely track keyboard activity, but monitor actual work. Former PC Liam Reakes of Avon and Somerset police resigned after being found to have weighed down the Z key for 103 hours between June and September 2024."

"According to a freedom of information request and public records checks by the Times, at least 50 police officers and civilian staff have been dismissed or forced to resign in the past three years for faking keyboard activity. Greater Manchester police alone has identified 28 keyboard jammers."

Keyboard jamming is a workplace deception tactic where employees place objects on their keyboards to simulate activity and avoid detection by employer monitoring software like Microsoft Teams, which flags inactivity after five minutes. This practice evolved from remote work arrangements following the pandemic. However, employers have responded by implementing sophisticated monitoring tools that track actual work output rather than merely keyboard activity. Multiple high-profile cases have emerged, including police officers in the UK who were caught and dismissed or forced to resign. Greater Manchester police alone identified 28 keyboard jammers, while at least 50 police officers and civilian staff across Britain have been dismissed or forced to resign in three years for faking keyboard activity. The escalating cat-and-mouse game between employees seeking flexibility and employers demanding accountability continues to evolve.

Read at www.theguardian.com