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Dell will reportedly start monitoring the in-office attendance of its U.S. employees who are classified as hybrid workers by tracking their badge swipes — and employees who don’t come in enough are getting a literal red flag.
The tech giant told employees that as its “next step in implementing our Hybrid Work Policy, we will track onsite presence using badge swipes for hybrid-designated team members,” according to a memo reported by Business Insider. Hybrid employees are now able to see their weekly site visit data on the HR platform, Workday, and this data will be used to determine if they get a blue, green, yellow, or red flag at the end of the quarter.
The color of a hybrid employee’s flag — yellow flags are for some onsite presence, and green flags for regular onsite presence — will be taken into consideration during performance reviews, rewards, and compensation.
Dell’s decision is part of a growing trend of corporations pulling the plug on remote work. Last week, Walmart ordered a majority of its remote workers to relocate to one of three of its central hubs — you can read the full memo to employees about that change here.
More money, more paycheck-to-paycheck problems
A majority of Americans say they are living paycheck to paycheck — including high earners.
As of January, 62% of U.S. consumers said they lived paycheck to paycheck, including 48% who earn more than $100,000 annually, and 36% of those annually earning more than $200,000, according to a recent report by data and analytics platform PYMNTS.
The reasons for living paycheck to paycheck are different between the different earnings levels. While low-income consumers cited insufficient income as the top factor, high-income consumers reported that family expenses are the top reason they live paycheck to paycheck, followed by non-essential spending. It also matters where people live, and of course, inflation is playing a role.
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Send questions, comments, and green flags to talk@qz.com. This edition of The Memo was written by Britney Nguyen, Rocio Fabbro, and Morgan Haefner.