BCE Inc., the parent company of Bell Canada, fired employees for falsifying office attendance records to bypass company policy [1, 2].

This move signals a strict enforcement of return-to-office mandates as corporations move away from the flexibility of remote work. By terminating staff for attendance fraud, BCE Inc. is establishing a precedent that digital check-ins are monitored and non-compliance carries severe professional risks.

The company requires employees to work from the office three days a week [1, 3]. According to internal reviews, some staff engaged in what is known as the "swipe-and-go" system, a practice where employees swipe their security badges to record their presence but leave the premises immediately [2, 4]. BCE Inc. said that these actions violated the corporate code of conduct [1, 3].

There is conflicting information regarding the scale of the terminations. Some reports indicate that dozens of employees were fired [3, 5]. Other sources describe the number as a small group [2, 6] or a handful of workers [7]. One report noted that the exact number of terminated employees remained undisclosed [8].

BCE Inc. implemented these measures to ensure the return-to-office mandate was followed across its Canadian operations [1, 3]. The company used the internal review to identify those who had manipulated the badge system to appear compliant while remaining remote.

The terminations follow a broader trend of corporate crackdowns on remote work habits. Companies have increasingly turned to badge data and network logs to verify that staff are physically present in the workplace for the required duration.

“BCE Inc. fired employees for falsifying office attendance records to bypass company policy.”

The BCE Inc. terminations highlight the growing tension between corporate return-to-office mandates and employee preferences for remote work. By treating 'swipe-and-go' behavior as a code of conduct violation rather than a simple scheduling issue, the company is framing attendance fraud as a matter of integrity. This shift suggests that companies are now prioritizing physical presence and surveillance of workplace movement over the trust-based models adopted during the pandemic.