Amazon Cracks Down on ‘Coffee Badging’ to Enforce Return-to-Office Mandate
Amazon Cracks Down on 'Coffee Badging' to Enforce Return-to-Office Mandate
New measures require employees to spend a minimum of two hours in the office to count attendance
Amazon has intensified its efforts to enforce its return-to-office policy by monitoring the time corporate employees spend in the office. The move aims to curtail a practice known as ‘coffee badging,’ where employees would arrive at the office, grab a coffee and leave shortly after. It’s merely to satisfy the return-to-office requirement. A news agency reported this crackdown, citing sources familiar with the situation.
Previously, Amazon’s lack of a minimum time requirement allowed this behavior to go unchecked. To address this, Amazon has now mandated that office visits must last at least two hours to count as attendance. For certain teams, such as those in retail and cloud computing, the minimum duration per visit has been increased to six hours.
This policy shift follows substantial resistance from Amazon employees, who began opposing the return-to-office mandate when it was announced early last year. An internal petition against the policy garnered around 30,000 signatures. Despite this, Amazon has reinforced its stance, requiring employees to relocate closer to their teams and halting promotions for non-compliant staff.
Amazon spokesperson emphasized the company’s commitment to the policy in an email to a news agency, stating that the company would “speak directly” to employees who fail to spend adequate time in the office.
A survey conducted by videoconferencing company revealed that 58% of hybrid workers admitted to engaging in coffee badging. Another survey by WFH Research highlighted a growing trend among managers to strictly enforce return-to-office policies, with 23% of managers in 2023 indicating that employees who resisted could face termination, up from 11% in 2022.
