"If you come into Starbucks in the morning and you are told you can't buy coffee because their staff hasn't arrived, will you accept that? Even the Europeans won't accept tardiness."

It's often done that someone appeals to examples from other cultures that might not be entirely accurate. Being a bit late, particularly if you live in a city with bad traffic, is absolutely accepted. Also, who in the UK hasn't heard the "we don't have train drivers" excuse?

The thing to think about is why there's demand for this sort of corporate leash. I guess there's a lot of bosses who distrust their employees. A friend of mine works for a firm from home one or two days a week, and it turns out they check whether your mouse is moving.

I run a tech team that's 100% work from home. I think if I insisted on GPS and face recognition it would quickly get miserable for everyone.

There's something I call the "ghost rower" effect. If you've ever rowed a boat (think Oxford and Cambridge) it's possible to move the oar in such a way that you look like you're rowing, but you are not really contributing to the boat moving faster. It works because someone on the shore can only check that you're sliding back and forth, and your oar is in the water.

Most modern desk jobs allow the same. You can show up, you can have Excel open, you can attend meetings. All without doing anything useful.

If you want more ghost rowers, install DingChat.