[bityard]

Put simply, someone somewhere made a decision to enact security theatre. Usually this happens because a non-technical manager made or approved a decision that looks good to the important people above them. It could also be due to following some ridiculous audit requirement to the letter. (Security audit requirements are also generally written by non-technical people.)

There is really no way you are going to convince anyone in the company to change these policies. They are already not listening to reason. If this is really the worst part of working for this company, I would say let it go because you're doing far better than average. But if the whole workday is filled with crap like this that prevents you from getting any real work done, then maybe it's time to start looking around.