I've observed this issue over and over at a dozen tech companies I worked for. They're not interested in deliverables IMO, they're interested in employee head count and total compliance.
Yeah, I've noticed something similar. If feels to me kind of like everyone who has people working below them are interested in having a story that prevents them from being fired if something goes wrong. "Hey, I had everyone working 50 hour weeks. So it clearly wasn't my fault." Because random events can make things go wrong at any time, there's always a pressure to have all your ducks in a row.
Apparently, just saying your employees were working a bunch of hours and having time sheets to back you up isn't enough proof for some people. Enter employee monitoring software. Prove to your bosses that you can't be fired because you made a bunch of people jiggle a mouse for 8 hours.
