The Department for Education is now monitoring WiFi use to track attendance after ordering staff to return to in-person working at least four days a week.
Officials who do not physically attend an office for 30 days or more will be reported to their managers.
FE Week revealed in May how civil servants had been forced to work in corridors and canteens because the department has almost twice as many workers as desks.
The DfE confirmed this week it is tracking logins to its virtual private network (VPN) and local area network (LAN).
Headline data on attendance is shared with the Cabinet Office, where the mandate to return to the office originated. Individual data is passed to senior civil servants so they can have discussions with those not coming in.
