AT&T watched employees’ attendance in search of freeeloaders. She now acknowledges that the system encourages employees to the “frustration threshold”.

• AT&T has collected to use a controversial attendance monitoring system for implementing their RTO policies.

• The so -called presence report uses an input combination for the Employee Time magazine.

• BRO, a company, says the goal of finding freeloaders was fulfilled, although confidence remains.

AT&T reduces its dependence on the staff visiting system, recognizing employees that it was not completely accurate and “attracts people to the limit of frustration.”

The system, which is called a presence report, automatically monitors working hours, which employees spend in the designated office. Many of them must connect at least eight hours a day, five days a week, on the spot.

The telecommunications giant is one of several companies, including Amazon, JP Morgan and Microsoft, tightening the credentials of “Return to the Bureau” and using New Tech to monitor staff compliance. The executives of these companies say movements increase cooperation and productivity.

At the last month’s meeting, the chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Kenny said that its section reduces the dependence on the monitoring of being in response to workers’ concerns and its accuracy. Initially, the system was introduced to identify employees who were not displayed in the office.

“We acknowledge that there are things that are not correct in the message,” she said, according to the sound he receives Business Insider. “This is not something I hope someone looks at every day, weekly or even monthly.”

AT&T also rejects the use of the surveillance system for salary workers throughout the company, said the person familiar with the matter.

CEO John Stankey ordered employees last month (reported only Business Insider) that AT&T is changing the use of their behavior data, such as being reports.

“We are analyzing behavioral patterns from broad groups,” he wrote, “to determine whether the behavior we evaluated meets our priorities and employment expectations.”

Stankey stated that personal data should be different from their peers until their name is attached to behavior.

“Some may appreciate this approach as a matter of trust, and this perspective is understandable. In several forums, I have expressed concern that previous data has indicated more bystanders than we would like,” he said.

Kenny in August. The meeting said that a survey of employees (which encouraged Stankey’s blunt memorandum) “many reviews” about presence reports. She said there were staff in the survey who said they were trying to make it a physician appointment, such as not going to the system.

Read more about Stankey Memorandum.

Although it does not seem that the survey did not give a direct question about the presence reports, she asked if the staff agreed that AT&T “Politics and System supported me with the best work.”

At Kenny’s meeting, about half of its organization respondents said no and that many expressed their concern about the RTO mandate and presence reports in the Freeform Reply.

“Now I understand the level of anxiety created by this message,” Kenny said. “I also now realize how the fact that it is inaccurate is forcing people to force people to frustrate and that causes mistrust.”

Business Insider talked to about a dozen employees from several units of the company about the system and its impact on their workplace experience.

AT&T spokesman refused to comment on this story instead of quoting Stankey’s August memorandum.

Several staff said Business Insider that the system is not just a magazine badge crossing the entrance or exit; The Presence Report uses laptop network connections and mobile device location data to determine the hours the employee was in their designated office.

The measure was installed in response to RTO PUSH, which began two years ago, and its use increased as attendance policy increasingly stricter.

Other companies such as Amazon and JP Morgan have also been closely monitored by employee behavior at work. In the past, Amazon used categories such as “inconsistent Badger” or “Zero Badger”, depending on whether the employee follows a three -day office mandate. The company has completed that the labels have demanded that the executives be provided with untreated badges so that they have access to their discretion.

A recent survey of commercial real estate company CBRE found that more than two -thirds of employers are monitored by employees’ compliance with attendance policy, and more than a third took a certain level of execution.

Execution, which is too strict or prone to mistakes, can cause other headaches in the organization to push experienced workers, make it difficult to hire new talents, or to undermine motivation and trust in the organization. Amazon’s internal documents last year showed that her RTO’s policy was hampered by the employment of the highest talents, and the Harvard leadership expert said Meta was suddenly changing with the RTO efforts in 2023. It is likely that the company has caused a “huge amount of mistrust”.

At the AT&T marketing and growth team meeting, Kenny said the system helped the management set Freeloaders, which appeared for 30 minutes or two hours a day.

“There were people who were marked for 10 minutes, got a cup of coffee and then left,” she said. “The report was good to identify people who abused the system. We no longer needed this report for this because we took action to people who were free motorcyclists.”

AT&T did not specify how many employees were disciplined or rejected for their presence report information.

AT&T staff said Business Insider that obvious disadvantages of the system could also be a hassle for employees who attracted their weight.

They said that during the first few months of this year, and the five -day RTO’s mandate is over, their messages can be mistaken for several hours. In addition, it is briefly labeled to the AT&T facility for a day of rest, which can cause average person’s average hours to reduce below the mandatory eight hours of a week.

“It was the worst in March and April,” one employee told Business Insider. “Sometimes you would withdraw to the lunch and then it would stop counting.”

Although the wrong report had no emergency consequences, the employees were concerned that false data could force them to dismiss them.

Some other business leaders said RTO’s powers “encouraged” employees to voluntarily quit, allowing companies to avoid more expensive layoffs.

Earlier, AT&T Business Insider said the purpose of his office rules is to promote better cooperation. She has also taken several years of effort to shrink her workforce. This year the company started around 140,000 employees compared to more than 160,000 2023. At the beginning of the year. Telecommunications competitors Verizon and T-Mobile started in 2025 respectively, respectively with 99,000 and 70,000 respectively.

Stankey said the company wants to reduce the $ 6 billion cost because it interrupts its old copper network in favor of new fibers and 5G technology.

A Georgian employee said the presence reports have changed the reality of many salaries managers who are not accustomed to such a comprehensive monitoring of their working day.

“We think we will be able to do a more flexible thing until we do our job,” he said.

Another effect of dealing with inferior actors was the erosion of motivation that some higher performers could be given an extra time.

“The attitude has changed,” said a new Jersey employee. “They only count for eight hours, so I’m just going to work for eight hours.”

AT&T staff Business Insider talked to said their presence reports have become more accurate in the last few months. One shared his report with annotations that showed such an improvement.

The issue of employee confidence can take more than a few months.

Do you have any advice? Contact Dominick Reuter email By mail [email protected] or call/text/signal by phone 646.768.4750. Use a personal email Email address, non -work WiFi network and non -work device; Here’s our supervisor how to safely share information;

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