Amazon cracks down on employees who come, get coffee, and leave, just to satisfy return-to-office mandate

Amazon employees found a loophole in Amazon's return-to-office policy, but the e-commerce giant now cracks down on their actions, known as 'coffee badging.'

Amazon has started to monitor the number of hours that corporate employees spend in the office to crack down on people who come, get a coffee, and leave, in a move known as ‘coffee badging,’ which is done to bypass the e-commerce giant's return-to-office policy, Business Insider reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

The Amazon Spheres, a few steps away from the office tower where Jeff Bezos leads the retail behemoth is part of the company’s urban campus of unmarked office buildings where more than 40,000 people report to work. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

How was it possible for Amazon employees to do coffee badging?

Coffee badging was possible because Amazon didn't have a minimum number of hours that employees were required to stay for, earlier.

Therefore, Amazon has now mandated a minimum of two hours per visit to count as office attendance for teams like retail and cloud-computing, according to the report, which added that some teams were told to stay for at least six hours per visit.

Why are Amazon employees coffee badging?

Amazon has faced massive pushback from its staff after announcing its return-to-office plans early last year, with around 30,000 employees signing an internal petition opposing the policy.

However, Amazon reacted by doubling down on its policy, forcing employees to move closer to their teams and also halting promotions of people didn't comply.

Amazon spokesperson Margaret Callahan wrote in an email to Business Insider that the company will "speak directly" to employees who haven't spent enough time in office.

Is Amazon alone in dealing with coffee badging?

A survey conducted last year by videoconferencing company Owl Labs found that 58% of hybrid worker respondents admitted to coffee badging.

However, another survey by WFH Research found that managers in general were getting tougher when it came to enforcing return-to-office policies. 23% of them said employees who resisted return-to-office policies faced termination, which was an increase from 11% in 2022.