Gen Z isn’t slacking—they’re ‘task masking’ to survive outdated work norms

Slack pings blink into the evening. Calendars overflow with meetings that accomplish little. Somewhere in this haze of modern knowledge work, a quiet rebellion is brewing—led, perhaps unintentionally, by Gen Z. They’re not skipping work. They’re task masking.

It looks like diligence: constant replies, over-documented to-do lists, and a commitment to showing up everywhere, virtually or in person. But beneath that appearance lies something more calculated. These workers aren’t chasing output—they’re curating optics. For many, the goal isn’t to be productive. It’s to look indispensable in a culture that still conflates presence with value.

That disconnect—between actual contribution and perceived activity—is becoming more visible. Not because Gen Z lacks ambition, but because they’ve figured out how the system works. And if the rules haven’t changed, they’ll play by them, even if it means wasting time to stay in the game.

There was a time when results spoke for themselves. Deliver the goods, and your work did the talking. Today, with hybrid workflows and distributed teams, the signal is messier. Visibility has become a stand-in for value, and for many employers, measuring work has reverted to what’s easiest to track: pings, hours, call logs.

That’s where task masking thrives.

Imagine the associate who never misses a call and always responds to Slack in under a minute. Impressive? Perhaps. But if the deck isn’t built or the analysis lacks rigor, what’s really being accomplished? The illusion of productivity, polished and ever-present, often wins the day. Gen Z, fluent in the language of social media and savvy about how algorithms reward presence, are simply transferring those instincts into the workplace. For them, looking engaged is a form of insurance. In remote and hybrid environments where actual work is harder to observe, signaling effort becomes the next-best tactic.

Consider this: Gallup’s 2024 workplace survey revealed that 54% of Gen Z feel their managers judge them more on activity than output. In a world where looking busy often outweighs being effective, who wouldn’t pad their calendar or over-document progress?

You’d think after years of digital transformation, we’d be better at measuring work. But the pandemic-era shift to remote and hybrid structures outpaced how most companies assess performance. The result? Managers stuck in the past, and employees forced to play along. Old habits die hard. Many firms still equate productivity with physical presence, logged hours, or meeting counts. Gen Z workers, especially those who launched their careers remotely, now find themselves navigating these outdated expectations—without much clarity on how to succeed beyond “being visible.”

It’s a vicious cycle. Insecure about how they’re being evaluated, employees default to what looks like hustle. They split their time between tasks that matter and gestures that prove they’re “on”—even if the latter does little to drive results. And return-to-office mandates have only deepened the confusion. For a generation that learned to collaborate asynchronously and deliver results from anywhere, being dragged back to desks to prove commitment feels regressive. Many simply revert to the only thing they can control: how busy they appear.

To pin task masking on Gen Z alone is convenient—but misleading. They're not the only ones dressing up busyness. Middle managers, too, often fall into the trap, packing their calendars with check-ins and updates that signal leadership more than they create value. The distinction lies in how nimbly Gen Z plays the game. They grew up curating online personas, optimizing for clicks and impressions. Transferring those instincts to the workplace takes little adjustment. They’re not rewriting the rules—they’re working with what’s available.

And here’s the kicker: some of these task-maskers are high performers. Competent, creative, and motivated—yet still allocating precious time to make sure they’re seen “working.” It’s not laziness. It’s strategy, born from a system that confuses activity with impact.

What’s lost in the process? Deep work, creativity, and real problem-solving. When time and attention are split between genuine tasks and performance gestures, the organization loses more than just hours. It loses momentum.

Ignore task masking, and it spreads. Let it flourish, and it becomes the culture. Teams overwhelmed by appearances lose their ability to prioritize. Meetings multiply. Slack threads balloon. People become reactive, not deliberate. And with each passing month, strategy gives way to activity theater. There’s a human cost too. Employees sense when their actual contributions aren’t noticed, and when visibility outshines value. That breeds cynicism. Morale sinks. Some check out emotionally. Others leave altogether.

And the damage isn’t confined to internal operations. Organizations that reward style over substance struggle to retain top talent. The best employees don’t want to be watched—they want to be trusted. They measure themselves by impact, not input logs. In cultures where optics dominate, they’ll eventually walk.

Breaking the cycle starts with clarity. Clear expectations, transparent metrics, and an emphasis on outcomes over process. That’s how you dismantle task masking. Not by adding another dashboard or productivity tool—but by designing a culture where real work speaks loud enough to stand on its own.

You don’t fix task masking with more oversight. You fix it by making visibility obsolete. Start with managers. Most weren’t trained for this hybrid world. Many still rely on visible cues because they’re easy. That needs to shift. Leaders must learn to evaluate impact—even when it’s asynchronous, invisible, or messy.

Abandon the comfort of vanity metrics. “Hours online” means little. “Meetings attended” often signals indecision. Instead, focus on indicators that reveal learning, innovation, and ownership. These are harder to track—but they’re what actually drive performance. Trust is also a design principle. Embed it into workflows. Give employees ownership over their time, and make outcomes the currency of recognition. If Gen Z sees that real value gets rewarded, they’ll stop investing so much in performance.

Even tools like Slack, Notion, or Asana need thoughtful implementation. Used poorly, they amplify noise. Used well, they help teams align and deliver. The key isn’t more productivity tech—it’s using what we already have to build trust, not suspicion. Task masking doesn’t thrive because workers are lazy. It thrives because the system makes it necessary.

Let’s be honest: Gen Z didn’t break the workplace—they just learned how to survive it. Task masking isn’t their fault. It’s a reaction to a culture still stuck in the analog logic of presence and process. If businesses want real productivity, they have to stop rewarding the appearance of it. That means rebuilding work around clarity, trust, and output—not pings and presence. Until then, task masking will continue—not as an act of rebellion, but as the safest way to stay visible in a system still chasing the wrong signals.