Management Monitoring Badge Swipes

In-Person Attendance Under Review at 1211 AOA

IAPE members in News departments have reported to the union that Wall Street Journal management is monitoring ID badge swipes to track attendance at the company’s 1211 Avenue of the Americas location in New York.

Multiple members have been summoned to meetings with Kate Ortega to discuss their attendance. Ortega has reportedly also met with various bureau chiefs for the purpose of informing managers which employees have not been meeting the three-day-per-week in-office threshold.

The union has contacted representatives of the Dow Jones Legal department for confirmation and an explanation for these one-on-one meetings. The company has confirmed receipt of IAPE’s emailed questions, but has not provided any response.

The company’s latest actions are contrary to the message expressed by management during return to office discussions earlier this year, when management pledged to be flexible with requirements for in-office work. Dow Jones representatives specifically noted that work performed “in the field” by Reporters would be counted as equivalent to in-office work.

During a town hall meeting in May, Matt Murray and Karen Pensiero assured staffers that managers would not be tracking attendance by “keeping a clipboard.”

Responding to a submitted question, Pensiero said, “someone else had asked whether or how this is going to be policed and tracked. Card swipes, attendance sheets, I don't know. That's not the newsroom that I work in.”

It seems that may have changed.

IAPE will continue to press Dow Jones for explanations and whether it intends to monitor employee attendance in other departments or locations. In the meantime, if you feel you have been unfairly summoned to a meeting to discuss your in-office attendance, please let us know.