Companies (and cities) are cracking down on return-to-office policies, and Amazon is joining the club.
The tech giant has reportedly begun cracking down on “coffee badging,” (a term for hybrid employees who come to the office, grab a coffee, chat up some coworkers, and then leave), by tracking the number of hours they are in the office — and installing a time minimum.
Related: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Reprimands Employees Resisting Return to Office Mandate
“Over a year ago we asked employees to start coming into the office three or more days per week because we believe it would yield the best long-term results for our customers, business, and culture. And it has,” Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan told Business Insider. “Now that it’s been more than a year, we’re starting to speak directly with employees who haven’t regularly been spending meaningful amounts of time in the office to ensure they understand the importance of spending quality time with their colleagues.”
Leaked Slack messages viewed by BI showed that employees across different teams had minimum hours mandates for an in-office visit to count toward attendance. Some teams had two-hour minimums, others six.
“Remember when we were measured on metrics that actually mattered?” one employee reportedly wrote on Slack.
In February 2023, CEO Andy Jassy said that most Amazon employees should be expected to be in the office at least three days a week. That policy went into effect three months later in May.
Shortly after, another leaked internal document revealed that Amazon managers were allowed to fire employees if they didn’t comply with their team’s return-to-office policy.
Amazon’s turn on remote work continued that November when leaked documents showed that employees seeking a promotion needed to be in the office no less than three days a week. If not, they’d need permission from a VP to gain promotion eligibility.
Related: Amazon Will Now Fire Workers Who Don’t Come Into the Office
“It’s past the time to disagree and commit,” Jassy said during an internal meeting last summer. “And if you can’t disagree and commit, I also understand that, but it’s probably not going to work out for you at Amazon because we are going back to the office at least three days a week, and it’s not right for all of our teammates to be in three days a week and for people to refuse to do so.”
Amazon did not immediately respond to Entrepreneur’s request for comment.