Seen and Gone: swipe in, get seen, slip out
It's a return-to-office day, and you've swiped in and poured a coffee. Stay where your manager can see you until the day counts as an office day. Then walk out while they look the other way.
Swipe in, get seen, walk out. One office day in 75 seconds.
On shift
An anchor day. Two holdups on the way out.
Done for todayToday's round done
- Your bestBest
- Next round
An anchor day. Two holdups on the way out.
Today's round Badge credit No HR notes 0 of 3
Paused
You're on a break. The clock waits until you press Resume.
Hold Space to walk. Stop when watched.
Hold to walk. Stop when watched.
Press Space to walk, again to stop.
Time card
- Meeting or Email , Not punched yet
- Boss Key , Not punched yet
- Reorg , Not punched yet
- Seen and Gone , Not punched yet
- You're on Mute , Not punched yet
- Work memes , Not punched yet
- Pizza Party , Not punched yet
- Expense Report , Not punched yet
- Self-Review , Not punched yet
- Close the Door , Not punched yet
- Trust Fall , Not punched yet
- Jargon quiz , Not punched yet
- Real or fake , Not punched yet
- The Application , Not punched yet
- Reply game , Not punched yet
The next shift starts at midnight.
How to play Seen and Gone
The office day runs from 9 am to 5 pm in 75 seconds. You start at the coffee machine beside your manager’s glass office.
There is one button: Walk to the door. Hold it, or hold Space, and you walk toward the exit past four desks. Let go to stop. Earn badge credit before you leave, or the day scores nothing.
If you walk in plain view, HR notes it. The third note ends the round.
Badge credit
Stand still while your manager watches your end of the floor, and the Seen meter counts your minutes in view. At fifteen minutes, you have badge credit.
When the chair turns
Your manager’s chair turns for 0.6 seconds before every look at the floor, toward the coffee end, the door end or the whole floor:
- If it turns toward the other end, keep walking. When it turns your way, let go.
- The watched part of the floor is striped. A red pen outline marks the part the chair is turning toward.
- A walk in plain view sends you back to the last desk you passed.
What stops you on the way out
Two of the four desks have something waiting for you as you pass. Each one does one of four things:
- A chat holds you still for a few seconds.
- An errand, like a charger left plugged in or a birthday card to sign, sends you back a desk.
- A slowdown, like a tote bag of free swag or a freshly mopped floor, halves your pace.
- Cover, like a monitor on its way to the elevator, hides you while you walk behind it.
Good to know
- On a Peak day, three desks stop you instead of two.
- A Badge audit week doubles the face time you need.
- With Take your time on, the day runs at half speed. Pause freezes the office until you press Resume.
How Seen and Gone scores
Your score is the minutes of the working day still left when you walk out with badge credit.
| What you do | Points |
|---|---|
| Out at 11:00 am, with badge credit | 360 |
| Out at 11:30 am, with badge credit | 330 |
| Out without badge credit | Nothing, because the badge report marks you absent |
The best possible score is 427. To get it, you’d spend every second before you leave either walking or being seen.
| How the day ends | Grade |
|---|---|
| Out by 11:45 am, with badge credit | Exceeds expectations |
| Out later, with badge credit | Meets expectations |
| Still in the office at 5 pm | Needs improvement |
| Out without badge credit | Performance plan |
| A third HR note | Performance plan |
Daily and solo rounds
Every player gets the same manager in today’s round. A solo round deals you one of 60 managers, a different one each time.
Return to office, by the badge data
The habit the game plays
Seen and Gone is a game of coffee badging. You swipe in, get a coffee where people can see you, then head home to WFH. The swipe still records an office day.
Why one swipe can count as a whole day
One weekly attendance count keeps only the first swipe each cardholder makes in a day. So ten minutes in the building counts the same as eight hours.
| Office attendance | Number |
|---|---|
| People whose keycard or fob swipes it counts | Over 300,000 |
| First swipes in ten big US cities in the week to September 16, 2026, as a share of February 2020 | 56.3% |
| Tuesday that week, the busiest day | 66.5% |
| Rise in required office days at US companies, year to mid-2025 | 10% |
| Rise in actual office use over the same year | 2 to 3% |
What the badge report doesn’t show
A swipe records that you came in. It says nothing about what you did once you were there. Most workers believe their employer tracks that some other way. So for the hours you do stay, pick up a cover story from our tips on how to look busy at work.
| Workers in 2026 who | Share |
|---|---|
| Believe their employer monitors what they do at work | 63% |
| Say employers should say when they use monitoring tools | 84% |
Questions about Seen and Gone
How long is a day in Seen and Gone?
75 seconds, from 9 am to 5 pm. You score the minutes left in the day at the moment you leave with badge credit.
What is badge credit?
It means today counts as a day in the office. You get it by standing still in your manager's view for fifteen minutes, until the Seen meter is full. Walk out without it and the badge report marks you absent.
Why did HR note me?
You walked while your manager was watching your end of the floor. The chair turns just before each look, so stop walking when it turns your way. Three notes end the round.
Does everyone get the same manager?
On the daily round, yes. A solo round draws a fresh one from 60 managers.