They can pick up low priority tasks and if something of high priority comes in, it takes the precedence. An employee can also learn new tasks, rotate to different teams, cross train, fix old code / refactor, take a sabbatical-on-call, write documentation, etc which do not get in the way of taking on high-burst high-priority tasks. This is far better in terms of company's productivity than pretend-work that the OP is describing.
I don't think its better for the company as you suggest. It is possible to use good sense of prioritization and still have 'extra capacity'.
I don't think its better for the company as you suggest. It is possible to use good sense of prioritization and still have 'extra capacity'.