The post-pandemic days of coffee badging and logging in from the couch may be coming to an end. More employers have been rolling out novel ways to keep tabs on workers’ whereabouts. And now, retail giant Target is doubling down on its attendance policy with a new points system.
Starting this September, Target will begin tracking the unexcused tardiness and absences of its store and warehouse workers with a new points system, according to Business Insider reporting confirmed by the company.
Staffers’ attendance violations will be tallied up and addressed accordingly: a quarter of a point for being more than eight minutes late to work, one point for missing a shift without their manager’s approval, and three points for skipping on work without telling their boss. The attendance strikes expire every 365 days.
And the higher the number climbs, the more serious the consequences become. If staffers rack up three points, they’ll have to check in with their supervisor; after five, counseling is on the table. And ultimately, if employees hit the threshold of 12 points, they’ll be shown the door.
New CEO, new rules after lackluster sales
Target’s attendance system comes as its new CEO, Michael Fiddelke, looks to improve store operations and create a better experience for shoppers. In a statement to Fortune, a company spokesperson says “Target is focused onreturningto growth, and elevating our guest experience is a key strategicpriority. We’ll continue to focus on enabling our team to deliver the delightful experience that guests depend on every day.”
Fiddelke was appointed to CEO of the retail chain at the start of February this year after working his way up through the company for two decades, starting as an intern back in 2003. And his ascension to the top role came at a time of business struggles; right after Fiddelke became CEO, Target had reported declining comparable sales for the fourth quarter in a row, though it forecast net sales growth of 2% for this year. In recent years, shoppers have also complained of high prices, understaffed stores, and messy, poorly stocked aisles.
And the $63 billion company, employing more than 400,000 workers, isn’t the only major American retailer who has been rolling out the strategy to make sure employees are on time; Walmart and Amazon have also introduced a points-based attendance policy to its millions of staffers. And it’s just one of the ways companies are tightening their grip on employee tardiness.
Employers are cracking down on in-person attendance post-pandemic
Ever since the pandemic eased and office doors began to open, professionals have been begrudgingly dragging their feet back to work. And in response to empty cubicles and mysteriously absent employees, companies have been cracking down with their own ways to keep tabs on employees’ whereabouts.
Employee surveillance has become a very popular tactic in the attendance push.
Back in 2023, California-based gaming company Roblox began monitoring the number of times employees swipe their ID cards to get into the building, tracking location data from company laptops and phones in an attempt to verify if workers are complying with its three-day RTO policy. That same year media company Bloomberg also instructed its staff to use an internal system to record their location each day. Any employees who didn’t show up to their assigned offices for the three-day in-person workweek would get a slap on the wrist, receiving verbal reminders from their managers.
In 2024, Dell similarly started tracking the electronic badge swipes and VPN usage of its employees to monitor who is and isn’t heading into the office three days a week. And based on how they fare on being consistent, they’ll get a color-coded rating: blue flags for workers who consistently show up, green and yellow flags for those who go into the office semi-regularly, and a red flag for hybrid workers who snub the company’s return-to-office mandate.
“In today’s global technology revolution, we believe in-person connections paired with a flexible approach are critical to drive innovation and value differentiation,” Dell told Fortune in a statement in 2024.
And even entire countries are rolling out attendance reforms. Germany—where workers take an average of 14.8 sick days per year, one of the highest rates of absenteeism in Europe—has put its foot down on employees playing hooky.
Chancellor Friedrich Merz and the Christian Democratic Union proposed a plan earlier this year that would give a bonus to workers who take five leave days or fewer each year—and dock pay for those who call in sick. The ultimate goal was to nudge professionals with minor issues, like a cold or stomach bug, back into the office rather than skipping work.
