Pair Programming is a complete crock of shit. If you hire someone to do a job, either they can do their job, or they cannot. If you cannot trust someone to perform and deliver work up to a certain standard, do not hire them. Is there any other industry where you hire two people to do one job?!
Now there are certainly times when it is very valuable to do collaborate, such as rubber duck debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging or mentoring or simply doing a 'desk check'. But these are the exceptions, not the rule. Having someone breathing down your neck or be a back seat driver all day is at best a waste of productivity, forcing the driver to think at the pace of the observer, and at worst, a complete waste of time and effort.
Now there are certainly times when it is very valuable to do collaborate, such as rubber duck debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging or mentoring or simply doing a 'desk check'. But these are the exceptions, not the rule. Having someone breathing down your neck or be a back seat driver all day is at best a waste of productivity, forcing the driver to think at the pace of the observer, and at worst, a complete waste of time and effort.