If you run into this again, maybe you can use pursuit of efficiency to get proof?
“If we really want to find out why, we can use a Value-stream mapping approach to analyze the process. We might even identify additional specific opportunities where we’re able to speed up!”
By documenting all steps in a process and timing each one you’d be able to identify where the difference is, and whether a critical step is being skipped. It really doesn’t have to take much time or effort. If management can’t be bothered to make that happen, then they must not really care about efficiency.
Until 2011 you could just watch wifi traffic for all the unencrypted creds/sessions.