Former AWS engineer reveals ‘wild’ tricks employees use to circumvent Amazon’s return policy

After Amazon recently announced a strict return-to-office (RTO) policy that requires employees to be in the office five days a week, a former Amazon Web Services (AWS) engineer revealed several clever tactics employees used to circumvent the requirement.

John McBride, a software engineer from Colorado, shared his insights in a viral post on X, detailing how some AWS employees went to great lengths to avoid returning to the physical office while maintaining the appearance of compliance with company policies. McBride himself resigned from AWS in June 2023 after being asked to relocate and work from the office.

“True ingenuity and innovation”: Three tricks to avoid RTO

Lunch break badge-ins: Employees would enter the office during their lunch break wearing their badge, grab free snacks or coffee, and quickly leave. This tactic worked for a short time until Amazon started tracking actual time spent in the office.

Wi-Fi spoofing: Employees renamed their home Wi-Fi networks to match the name of the office network and tricked the company's reporting software into flagging them as “in the office.” This method was eventually thwarted when IT implemented more sophisticated network verification measures.

Sharing badges: Some employees left their security badges with colleagues who clocked them in and out of the office, a risky tactic that worked for months on end for some employees, according to McBride.

The advantages and disadvantages of remote work

Amazon's push for a full return to the office reflects a broader trend among companies eager to restore pre-pandemic work norms. But the success of remote work during the pandemic has sparked debate about the long-term role of traditional offices, particularly in the tech industry. McBride's revelations have sparked discussions about whether physical presence in the office is really necessary for tech professionals, especially given rapid advances in virtual collaboration technologies.

A look into the future of work

McBride's report highlights employees' ingenuity in adapting to changing work environments and their determination to maintain the flexibility that remote work offers. As companies tighten their RTO policies, it remains to be seen whether these creative workarounds will stick around or be eliminated altogether.