Paragraph 1: Opening
After work, do you often find yourself still sitting in the office—your desk covered with papers, the computer screen glowing—yet your mind already somewhere else? Many think this is an individual choice, but research shows it’s actually a cultural trap set by companies. It has a name: Formalistic Overtime Behavior (FOB). In simple terms, the company makes you stay without pay, and you cope by pretending to be busy.
下班后，你是不是常常还坐在办公室——桌面上堆满文件，电脑屏幕亮着，但心思早已飞到别处？很多人以为这是个人选择，但研究发现，这其实是企业制造的文化陷阱。它有一个名字：形式化加班行为（FOB）。简单来说，公司让你留下来却不给报酬，而你只能靠“装忙”来应对。
Paragraph 2: The Institutional Problem
In many Chinese workplaces, unpaid overtime has become not an occasional effort, but a normalized system. The boss rarely says it out loud, but the lights in the office give the command: whoever leaves first risks being seen as “not dedicated enough.” In this environment, overtime becomes a performance. Employees are not working for results, but staying late to project loyalty. The problem is, this loyalty is a façade—serving power, not productivity.
在很多中国职场，不付薪加班早已不是“偶尔的额外努力”，而是被制度化的常态。老板很少明说，但办公室的灯光就是命令：谁先走，谁就可能被视为“不够敬业”。在这样的环境里，加班变成了一种表演。员工不是为了成果，而是为了留下来展示忠诚。问题在于，这种忠诚只是幻象——服务的是权力，而不是效率。
Paragraph 3: Why the Responsibility Lies with Companies
Some might argue that employees can choose to say no. But in a culture with high power distance and weak labor protections, individuals have little bargaining power. Companies turn “overtime culture” into a cost-shifting mechanism, converting free labor into resources. In other words, unpaid overtime is not just about losing hours—it is structural exploitation. FOB is the passive survival strategy employees develop under this pressure.
有人会说，员工可以选择拒绝。但在一个 高权力距离、劳动保护薄弱 的职场里，个体几乎没有议价空间。企业把“加班文化”变成了一种成本转移机制，把免费的劳动转化为资源。换句话说，不付薪加班不仅仅是时间的流失，而是一种 结构性的压榨。FOB 正是这种压榨下，员工被动形成的生存策略。
Paragraph 4: The Damage to Employees
Studies show that formalistic overtime does not improve performance; instead, it drains employees’ emotional and physical energy. Those extra hours in the office don’t create new value but increase work–life conflict: less sleep, strained family relationships, and reduced enthusiasm for work the next day. Companies think they are gaining loyalty, but in reality, they are undermining both employee well-being and long-term productivity.
研究表明，形式化加班并不会提升绩效，反而不断消耗员工的情绪与体力。那些额外待在办公室的小时，并没有创造新的价值，反而加剧了 工作—生活冲突：睡眠不足、家庭关系紧张、第二天对工作的热情下降。企业以为自己获得了“忠诚”，实际上却是在损害员工的幸福感和组织的长远生产力。
Paragraph 5: A Wake-Up Call for Companies
If companies continue to tolerate—or worse, promote—this “performative overtime,” what they will get is not engaged, creative employees, but a troupe of tired actors. A responsible organization should not measure commitment by how long someone’s light stays on at night, but by what value they create during regular hours. Labor laws already state clearly: overtime requires compensation. But beyond the law, what really matters is a cultural shift inside organizations.
如果企业继续容忍，甚至鼓励这种“表演式加班”，最终得到的不是投入、有创造力的员工，而是一群疲惫的“演员”。真正负责任的组织，不该用“谁的灯亮得久”来衡量敬业度，而是看员工在合理工时内创造了多少价值。劳动法早已明确规定：加班必须补偿。但比法律更重要的，是企业文化的转变。
Paragraph 6: Closing
So the real question isn’t “Why do employees pretend to be busy?” but rather, “Why do companies force employees to pretend?” When offices turn into stages after 6 p.m., and workers into unwilling performers, what’s stolen isn’t just personal time—it’s the possibility of a healthy, fair workplace. Changing this reality isn’t about employees adjusting themselves. It’s about companies taking responsibility.
所以，真正的问题不是“员工为什么要装忙”，而是 “企业为什么要逼员工装忙”。当下班后的办公室变成舞台，员工变成不情愿的演员，被偷走的不只是个人时间，而是一个健康、公正的职场环境。要改变这一切，关键不在于员工如何自我调节，而在于企业敢不敢承担起应有的责任。
