Amazon Targets ‘Low-Time’ and ‘Zero Badgers’ in RTO Crackdown

Amazon has introduced a robust dashboard for managers to enhance oversight of employee attendance in the office. This development aligns with the company’s intensified monitoring of its workforce, particularly after implementing a strict Return-to-Office (RTO) policy in the prior year, mandating in-office presence five days a week. The updated metrics allow managers to track attendance patterns and durations, facilitating potential interventions for employees who do not meet expectations.

Enhanced Attendance Monitoring at Amazon

Beginning in December, Amazon’s new dashboard captures detailed employee attendance data. Managers and HR can now assess how often employees are present in the office, the duration of their stays, and their specific work locations. This information updates every evening and provides data over the last eight weeks.

Identification of Employee Categories

The dashboard categorizes employees into three groups:

• Low-Time Badgers: Employees with an average weekly in-office time of less than four hours per day.
• Zero Badgers: Employees who do not swipe their badges to enter any Amazon building during the monitored period.
• Unassigned Building Badgers: Employees who frequently enter buildings that are not their assigned work locations.

These classifications aim to highlight employees whose attendance deviates substantially from established norms. An Amazon spokesperson emphasized that the metrics help identify team members needing additional support to meet attendance expectations.

Policy Updates and Impact

In 2023, Amazon transitioned to tracking individual office attendance, moving away from its previous anonymous data collection approach. Additionally, the company sought to curb the practice of “coffee badging,” where employees would badge in without genuinely working on-site. Some teams were informed that they must remain in the office for a minimum of two to six hours for their attendance to be recognized.

This crackdown sparked concern among employees, with some likening the environment to being treated as high school students. However, Amazon encourages managers to apply discretion when handling potential disciplinary actions based on attendance metrics.

A Broader Trend in RTO Enforcement

Amazon’s approach is not an isolated phenomenon. Other corporations are similarly employing attendance data to enforce their Return-to-Office rules:

• Samsung: Implemented a monitoring tool for managers focused on employees’ presence in the office.
• Dell: Notified hybrid employees about ongoing tracking of on-site attendance and its potential impact on performance and compensation.
• Bank of America: Issued warnings regarding disciplinary actions for noncompliance with RTO policies.
• JPMorgan: Created an internal dashboard to assess the proportion of eligible workdays employees spend in the office.
• PwC (UK): Announced plans to monitor employees’ work locations as part of its RTO strategy.

As companies continue to navigate the challenges of hybrid work structures, the push for in-office collaboration is apparent across various industries. The effectiveness of these metrics in fostering a conducive work culture remains to be seen.