Dell Technologies (DELL ) is slamming its foot down on its return-to-office policy.
It is reportedly planning to start tracking its employees via their badge swipes and VPN connections in order to make sure that they are working from the office, according to a new report from The Register.
The Register is a global online enterprise technology news publication.
The tech company rolled out its RTO policy in February when it began mandating most of its employees to work from the office three days a week and work a minimum of 39 days each quarter.
Only employees who make lower salaries at the company have the option to work fully remote, but they allegedly risk losing the opportunity to land a promotion or an internal job opportunity.
Related: Dell employees claim new return-to-office policy is a quiet layoff
The policy reportedly caused internal turmoil as employees were allegedly given no direction or any say on what offices to report to due to “capacity or business function constraints.”
Now, starting May 13, Dell will enforce a “color-coding system” to monitor how often employees are working in the office, according to The Register.
The system will give employees ratings based on four different colors:
- Blue — Means "consistent onsite presence.”
- Green — Means "regular onsite presence.”
- Yellow — Means "some onsite presence."
- Red — Means "limited onsite presence.”
"Employees who do not meet the attendance requirement will have their status escalated up the ladder to Jeff Clarke, who apparently believes that being a hall monitor trumps growing revenue," an anonymous source told The Register.
Clarke is Dell's chief operating officer and vice chairman.
Dell is a winner from AI
Dell has recently seen a decline in its revenue. In its most recent earnings report, it revealed that its net revenue shrunk by 11% year-over-year during its fiscal 2024 fourth quarter.
For full year 2023, the company’s revenue was down by 14% to $88.4 billion.
Partly that was due to a weak personal-computer market and the costs associated with more than 6,000 layoffs. But investors are excited by Dell's growth potential for its server and computer businesses because of artificial intelligence, the Motley Fool reported.
The shares are up nearly 74% this year.
Companies want workers in the office
Many companies have been ramping up their return-to-office efforts, but a plethora of employees aren’t too thrilled about the push.
According to a recent survey from workplace management platform Robin, which polled 600 hybrid employees, 46% of respondents said that they are more productive working from home, making it the biggest deterrent of returning to the office.
Also, 41% said that long commutes also make them hesitant to return to the office, with 32% saying that high gas prices discourage them.
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