Dell introduces colour-coded attendance system, VPN tracking: What Red, Blue mean and more

Dell has announced a new policy that will monitor how often its employees who split their time between the office and home actually show up to work. The company plans to use electronic badge scans, VPN log-ins, and a colour-coded system to keep tabs on employee presence in the office. However, the change, which starts on May 13, as per the Register, has upset many workers who think the rules are too strict and might lead to more people losing their jobs.
Under the new policy, employees will be graded based on their presence in the office for at least 39 days per quarter, or approximately three days per week.Dell's human resources software will provide weekly updates on employees' on-site presence, accompanied by colour-coded ratings. A blue flag indicates "consistent onsite presence," green signifies "regular onsite presence," yellow denotes "some onsite presence," and red indicates "limited onsite presence."
A Dell spokesperson told the Times of India, "As we've shared, team members globally in hybrid roles will be onsite at a Dell Technologies office at least 39 days per quarter (on average 3 days a week). In today's global technology revolution, we believe in-person connections paired with a flexible approach are critical to driving innovation and value differentiation."However, the policy has been met with significant backlash from employees.
One source familiar with the matter told The Register, "In the latest Jeff Clarke return-to-grade-school initiative, HR will be keeping an attendance report card on employees, grading them at four levels based on how well they meet the goal of being in the office 39 days a quarter. Employees who do not meet the attendance requirement will have their status escalated up the ladder to Jeff Clarke [the Chief Operating Officer], who apparently believes that being a hall monitor trumps growing revenue."
Another source described the situation as a "shit show," with managers offering inconsistent guidance on the consequences of receiving red flags for limited on-site presence.
This new rule follows Dell's statement in February that employees who work from home most of the time might have a harder time getting promoted and are more likely to be fired if the company needs to cut jobs.
Some workers think this is a sneaky way to get rid of people, especially women, who are more likely to want to work from home. The company has laid off at least 13,000 people since the start of 2023, with some anticipating further layoffs over the summer.
According to sources, approximately half of Dell's U.S. employees and two-thirds of its international workers are classified as remote. One source said, “Dell is tracking badge-ins and VPN connections to ensure employees are onsite when they claim they are (to deter 'coffee badging' or scanning your badge then going immediately home)," another source told, noting that the company is doing this to quantity how many of the staff are choosing to remain remote after the mandate.
The strict tracking of office attendance is a big change from how Dell used to handle remote work before the pandemic. One employee said, "Even before the pandemic, they never really pushed people to be in the office. They used to say, 'Work happens wherever you make it happen.' The office was often empty a lot of the time, like after lunch or before holidays."