#badgeswipes

We must return to the office October 20 and will have our badge swipes counted to ensure we show up there 4 days per week. We do not have our own cube space but we reserve one every 30 days. Looking for a new job which is just what they had hoped for.

I’ve been trying to figure out how to drop off kids work 8 and pick them up. With no notice this is ridiculous. So I think my option one day a week is to drop them off and then head back into the office in the evening and sit there. So do the reports just so first in. And last out? Do they calculate gaps? And don’t play the curse on you because you have kids or pre-Covid . This was never a problem before because I always get my work done, work late if needed and am an adult.

I honestly don’t see myself ever going back to the office. What happens if I just dont show up—would they actually fire me? Do they even track badge swipes? Is HR planning to enforce this policy ?

Noticing that since the news came out that they are no longer tracking in office presence , the little Flexible workspace In my building is no longer full. It used to be at capacity daily, now half of the seats are empty - people are going back to doing what they want -

Two or three months ago, I was pulled into a conversation with my manager about my badge scans. A report had just come out and they were holding everyone accountable if their average weekly scans didn't meet a certain threshold.

I was put on a documented coaching. I didn't question it because I admittedly was not making up in office days if I took PTO on those days and my manager was very relaxed about not coming into the office when we were sick. It came back to bite me, and I didn't feel like he had my back, but whatever, it's just a warning, I moved on. It's important to note that I wasn't given any details, I was just told "you aren't meeting the expected minimum" and was told what the minimum was.

Two weeks ago, I was called into his office again. This time, I was told I still had not been adhering to the in office expectation, so I was placed on a written corrective action, and I was told I wouldn't get a raise or a bonus at performance review time because I'd be a 2. No details given, just that I was still under the minimum.

BUT, I had started meticulously tracking my in office days since my documented coaching to make sure I met the 3 day in office expectation. In fact, I worked 5 days in the office on the weeks I was able to, just to make sure I wasn't at risk. By my calculation, I was averaging 4.125 days in the office over the last 2 months.

I did not sign the written CA and emailed my manager with my proof, to which he sent me a screenshot of the "report". The report was not even close to matching my time in the office. There were some weeks it was showing 0 badge scans, others showed 2, and never over 3. What's frustrating is I sit 3 desks away from my manager's office, and he has commented on the fact that "I am always in the office" yet he did not question the accuracy of this report he was given.

I literally had to argue with my manager and his manager to get them to request a new report directly from HR. It took 2 weeks and I finally was called back into his office recently and the written corrective action was rescinded. My report was 100% accurate.

I have 5 other peers, some in my department, some in others, in similar situations, but they did not track their in office days like I did, so they have no "proof" to push back on the report that their leadership was given. Some were put on a coaching, some on a CA, and one was placed on a final, but is adamant that she was meeting the expectations since the last conversation she had with her direct leader.

This is a ticking time bo-b. If HCSC is putting people on corrective action because of inaccurate badge scan reports, then there's surely some legal recourse if it has material consequences (like not getting a raise or being limited to promotions for a year), or, god forbid someone was terminated because of this.

My point - if you have been pulled into a conversation about your badge scan report, regardless of if you are being put on a warning or a written, don't trust the data. Question it, push back, request a secondary review by HR. I really don't think leadership cares enough to validate these reports before escalating to some sort of corrective action, and, at least my leadership, didn't seem to think it was a big enough issue to look into it outside of my specific case, probably because I had the receipts to back up my claim.

Not sure if anything more can come of this from a legal standpoint, but please question the accuracy of these things. My guess is they are using this as a way to prune the workforce to either avoid or reduce a widespread layoff, but don't let them do it easily.

How is the company tracking compliance with the RTO? Are they just looking at badge swipes or the total time spent as well

I know that badge swipes are being tracked, but is time on site being tracked via the LAN line connection? I was thinking of coming in on site working for a couple of hours then leaving back home to finish the day. Technically the badge swipe counts as on site, but not necessarily total TIME on site. I'm hybrid with a 2 day a week in office requirement and wondering how this, if at all, will impact reporting.

Well, the RTO purge has pretty much run its course. Anyone who couldn’t relocate, wouldn’t commute, or flat out refused to play the badge swipe game is already gone or has one foot out the door. That was the whole point, force attrition without paying severance. Mission accomplished.

So what now? The RTO hammer can’t keep falling because there aren’t many left to force out. The novelty is wearing off, and the execs can’t keep blaming remote work forever. Sooner or later, the whole RTO obsession will fade into the background, and we’ll be right back to the good old AT&T tradition: cyclical layoffs every 6 months.

That’s the real playbook. Not collaboration. Not culture. Just headcount reduction on a timer. Watch, the headlines will quietly shift from “RTO enforcement” to “restructuring” and “realignment.” Different buzzwords, same outcome.

RTO was never about making the company stronger. It was a temporary stick to thin the herd. And now that the herd is thinned, the machine goes back to business as usual: cut, shuffle, repeat.

I don’t post often, but I can’t stay quiet anymore. RTO is breaking this company, and it’s breaking the people who’ve held it together through every storm.

We’ve already endured layoffs, outsourcing, constant reorganizations, and a revolving door of “strategic visions.” Through it all, employees adapted. We stayed. We worked harder with less. We found ways to keep this place running even when leadership gave us little in return.

And then came RTO.
• Long commutes rob us of hours that could be spent with our families or serving customers.
• Overcrowded offices are unsafe, stressful, and do nothing to improve collaboration… we’re still on Teams all day with coworkers in other states and countries.
• Morale has collapsed. The message is clear: loyalty doesn’t matter, results don’t matter … only badge swipes.
• And the best “younger” people? They’re leaving. They’ve found remote jobs at companies that trust them and respect their time. AT&T is bleeding talent it will never get back.

Please, stop this before it’s too late. Remote and hybrid work worked. Customers were happy. Productivity was high. Employees had balance. The only thing RTO has delivered is frustration, attrition, and despair.

AT&T doesn’t need to be the company that dies on this hill. End the forced RTO. Trust the people who’ve carried you this far. Give us the flexibility we’ve already proven works.

Because if this continues, there won’t be anyone left to carry it at all.

at the FN1 building will there be badging out macjines. As of right now they do not. Just curious if the will be implementing them due to the fact that people will leave

How does WF track how many hours you are in office? You don’t need to swipe badge out in some buildings

I’ve been hearing that by the end of the year, they plan to stop centrally monitoring badge swipes altogether.

Instead the responsibility will shift to individual mgrs and orgs, who will have the discretion to decide what kind of in-office expectations they want to set for their own teams.

Due to abuse I believe starting October you'll need to badge out of any building instead of just badge in. They're going to crack down on RTO. You'll be written up if you do not come into office

The beatings will continue until morale improves

Anyone has news if HR is running report to check if employee is working in the office? Or it's off the radar?

this whole bs thing started in what, early March or so? I went in MAYBE 3 days/week but averaged out more like 1-2/week lol. I was told by my manager that I should probably start going in more to stay off a "list," so i did. I'd go swipe my badge and drive the hour commute back home.

Then the whole manager reorg happened and my new "manager" is pi---d about the RTO as well. He basically told me - without saying it - that if i want to just badge in and go straight back home, then i can.

I live an hour from the office and got tired of the drive. I put in for a medical exception for something and was granted 6 months. So, I haven't been to the office since I think early April now?

Are they still monitoring this cr-p? Because in my last 1x1 he didn't say a thing about it.

Careful with how much time you are spending in the office.. They are watching and firing people who arent in the office "enough time". Keep in mind there is NO policy which outlines time in office but they will still fire you!

You can still see your badge swipe totals in workday, but is that even being monitored anymore?

Since the company can't even send a godda-n email letting us know, does anyone know why the badge readers at 176 stopped requiring a pin?

Not that I'm complaining but I'm watching a bunch of buffoons still enter pins while it flashes red.

Looking forward to see how everyone starts driving to office 4 days a week in traffic and complain about missing little Tommys dance classes. LBT will probably start badge tracking for hours spent as well. I am fully remote so I will continue to WFH

Sometime in 2020 with pandemic closures, the company installed monitoring applications on laptops that randomly captures screenshots and reported meta information. Then came tracking the badge swipes at doors to ensure that all employees ordered to return to the office, did so and did so on time. IT can report how long you spend on Zoom calls, emails, spreadsheets, salesforce or if you’ve got blank space in your calendar. They’ve reportedly started tracking mobile phone location data for all employees- including once exempt sales and admin staff. If you have a company phone, and don’t live in Cali, you are now most likely in the surveillance crosshairs. Enjoy eating lunch or leaving at 5:01 pm knowing that your location is being watched. What’s next a loyalty test?