I recently came across an article entitled "Pair programming works". To be honest, the first thing that crossed my mind was that this would be a cartoon mocking the concept.

Fortunately, i was wrong as the article gives very compelling arguments on why "Pair programming" has a lot of benefits, both to the employer as well as the employees that are involved. Some of them include:

People talk while pair programming. And that really helps when you get stuck in some problem. It's basically that effect you get when you describe your problem to another person and suddenly the solution hits you. By talking, you get out of it faster. You notice more details. Two pairs of eyes are better than one and, since people usually think differently, two people will be able to pick up different types of details, which will make them much more effective at writing quality code than just one person. Helps you understand who in your team is an expert on which areas. And as you go along pair programming with others you too will find out in which areas you are best.

If you have the time, give it a reading.