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Samsung called some US employees back to the office five days a week, a Business Insider report has revealed.
The revision to its flexible working policy was planned in April before being implemented in July, as Samsung joined the likes of Amazon, JPMorgan, and AT&T in mandating a full return-to-office (RTO).
An internal memo sent to staff in August by Samsung’s HR team hailed the move, claiming it has resulted in “more smiling faces in the hallways.”
Samsung demands ‘greater presence’ in the office
The five-day RTO mandate applies to a group of staff in Samsung’s semiconductor business.
In April, Samsung sent an email to the employees outlining the changes and explaining why it made the decision.
“We look forward to a more consistently full campus environment, where innovation and collaboration can happen in real time,” the memo said, according to Business Insider. “We appreciate our team members' understanding as we evolve certain policies to support this goal.”
Before the change, Samsung followed a “FlexWork” policy that permitted employees to spend up to two days per week working from home.
The new policy was rolled out throughout May, June, and July.
In June, Samsung's HR team updated staff on the RTO mandate with another email. “We are already experiencing increased foot traffic daily, with more cars in the parking lot and hungry mouths in our cafeterias on Fridays, to name just a few signs,” it said.
Although the email shared with staffers in August was positive about seeing “more smiling faces” in Samsung offices, it emphasized that the company wishes to see a “greater presence” on-site.
It also acknowledged that some employees had to make adjustments to their personal lives to comply with the policy change: “We recognize that many employees shifted personal schedules to accommodate the daily requirements to be together in the office.”
A spokesperson for Samsung confirmed that the RTO policy only applies to a specific group of employees in the company’s US semiconductor business, but declined further comments to Business Insider.
How Samsung is ‘guarding against coffee badging’
In the August email, Samsung highlighted the need to “improve adherence to our policy,” notifying employees that it was building a tool to help managers track and enforce office attendance.
A further update was provided in August on the tool, in which Samsung revealed its plan to stop staff from circumventing the policy through coffee badging – a popular trend whereby staff attend the office and scan their ID badge, but only stay long enough for a hot beverage.
“This tool will provide each Manager with visibility to the number of days & time in building metrics for each team member,” the email explained. “This will ensure that team members are fulfilling their expectation regarding in office work - however that is defined with their business leader - as well as guarding against instances of lunch/coffee badging.”
According to Owl Labs’ 2024 State of Hybrid Work report, 44% of US employees who are ordered to attend the office admitted they coffee badge. The figure dropped from 58% in 2023, thanks in part to employers becoming more adept at catching coffee badgers.
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The tech firm added that its RTO monitoring tool wouldn’t come without its flaws. “This tool is not perfect,” the email continued. “Consider this a V1. For example, we will not be able to integrate a PTO designation.”
Instead, Samsung urged the tool to “serve as a starting point for conversations between Managers and Employees regarding physical presence to expectations.”
The tool will not be able to factor in other forms of non-office-based in-person work, such as business travel or customer meetings.
Samsung’s HR team encouraged staff to liaise with people managers on personal circumstances that might qualify them as exempt from the policy.
It joins other notable employers, including AT&T, to call staff back to the office full time in 2025.
AT&T CEO John Stankey recently emailed his managers, warning employees to align with the telecom giant’s RTO mandate or look for work elsewhere.
“If a self-directed, virtual, or hybrid work schedule is essential for you to manage your career aspirations and life challenges, you will have a difficult time aligning your priorities with those of the company and the culture we aim to establish,” he wrote.
Some employers that have ordered employees back to the office, like Amazon, have struggled with monitoring staff’s office attendance.
Recent data indicates that employees are broadly rejecting strict RTO mandates.
“While policy requirements for office attendance have jumped 10% since early 2024, actual attendance has barely moved, increasing less than 2% during the same time period,” a report from Time said in May.
