The tech giant has launched a new strategy in its ongoing fight to get employees to come to the office: tracking individual hours spent there.
Business Insider’s Eugene Kim has a report on Amazon monitoring the hours its corporate employees spend in the office. As frustrating as that sounds — one Amazon employee likened it to being treated like a high schooler — it’s not without reason.
Amazon is trying to crack down on “coffee badging,” or swiping into the office just to satisfy an in-office mandate without doing actual work there. Currently, most of Amazon’s corporate staffers must be in the office at least three times a week.
Amazon and its employees have been in an ongoing battle over its return-to-office mandate, which was first announced early last year. There were internal petitions, blocked promotions, and forced relocations as both sides have dug their heels in.
From Amazon’s perspective, the business operates better when people are in the office. A spokesperson told Eugene returning to the office meant “more energy, connection, and collaboration.”
For Amazon employees, the RTO mandates have been shrouded in mystery and confusion. And for some, the number of days they’re in the office doesn’t feel like a metric worth being judged on.
Either way, don’t expect the fight to stop anytime soon. At least one Amazon employee thinks they’ve figured out a workaround by swiping into their local Whole Foods, which is an Amazon subsidiary.