Amazon has introduced a new system that lets managers closely watch how often office employees come in and how long they stay. The information comes from an internal document seen by Business Insider. This increases monitoring of white-collar workers at the company.
Last year, Amazon brought in one of the strictest return-to-office rules in the industry. Most corporate employees were told they must work from the office five days a week. With the new dashboard, managers can now easily see who is meeting these expectations and who is not.
What the new dashboard shows
The dashboard began rolling out in December. It refreshes every day at 5PM PT and looks at attendance over a rolling eight-week period. Managers and HR can see how often employees come to the office, how many hours they stay, and which buildings they badge into. Earlier, managers usually had to ask HR for this information.
Employees flagged by the system
The system shows employees who fall outside office rules. It identifies “Low-Time Badgers,” who spend less than four hours a day in the office on average, “Zero Badgers,” who do not enter any Amazon office during the eight-week period, and “Unassigned Building Badgers,” who mostly work from buildings other than the one assigned to them.
The internal document says, “These metrics are intended to surface employees operating significantly outside documented in-office expectations,” according to the document obtained by Business Insider.
Amazon says the rules have not changed
An Amazon spokesperson said the company has used similar tools for over a year and that the update mainly makes the system uniform for all managers. The spokesperson told Business Insider, “For more than a year now, we’ve provided tools like this for managers to help identify who on their team may need support in working from the office each day.”
They further added, “We recently updated the dashboard to make it more consistent for all managers, but most of the data and functionality was previously available. We continue to see the benefits of having our teams working together, and we haven’t changed our expectations for employees to be in the office.”
Managers asked to use judgment
Amazon says managers should not automatically punish employees flagged by the system. The document notes that managers are expected to “apply judgment” before starting any formal disciplinary action.
Office monitoring has increased over time
In 2023, Amazon began tracking and sharing individual office attendance data, moving away from anonymous, group-level tracking. A year later, the company started cracking down on “coffee badging” and told some teams they needed to stay in the office for two to six hours for attendance to count.
The updated dashboard covers Amazon’s corporate workforce. It does not apply to warehouse workers or contractors, according to people familiar with the policy.
Amazon says it is about teamwork
The company says the goal is to encourage real, in-person collaboration. The document states, “Working In-office is important to our culture and is also about more than just being physically present during the week,” and adds, “Managers are expected to promote meaningful team collaboration through direct interactions with their team rather than just remotely monitoring badge swipes each week.”
Amazon is not the only company using badge data to enforce return-to-office rules. Samsung has rolled out tools showing time spent in the office, while Dell has said office attendance may affect performance and pay.
‘RIP WFH’
Netizens reacted to the recent update. A user noted, ” When Big Tech becomes the sarkari office you mocked.” Another added, “Meanwhile in Bengaluru & Hyderabad offices, employees already fighting traffic + metro + auto + rain just to badge in for 9 hours straight. Now managers get an 8-week Netflix-style recap of our suffering. RIP WFH dreams.”
“Example for micromanage,” added another. “Ah, the joys of unchecked capitalism – Big Tech turning offices into surveillance states, but god forbid we prioritise actual worker protections over endless monitoring. Meanwhile, Amazon’s sweatshop vibes keep thriving. Classic. CorporateOverlords,” stated a user.
