As the COVID-19 disrupted the work-life balance of employees, phrases like ‘quiet quitting’, ‘quiet firing’, ‘great resignation,’ and ‘Moonlighting’ went immensely viral in the post-pandemic era. These phrases captured the annoyance and frustration of the employees, and currently there is another term that has hit corporates around the world. It’s called – Coffee Badging.
You must be wondering what it actually means. So, without much ado, let us delve into what coffee badging is all about and why the new workplace trend that the bosses seem to hate is becoming the talk of the town?
What is ‘Coffee badging’?
‘Coffee badging’ is a modern adaptation of workplace attendance in the corporate world, reflecting the evolving dynamics of workplace culture as companies ask employees to return to physical office spaces. As per a report by Forbes, this phenomenon signifies a contemporary take on presenteeism. In this trend, people now show up to work for a few hours to do what they missed about the office during the COVID-19 pandemic. Meeting colleagues, socialising with them over coffee, spending a couple of hours together, and then bouncing off to home, where they can work more productively, undisturbed.
The phenomenon particularly takes advantage of the concept of arriving at work and swiping your ID badge to verify to your boss that you came to work, but no real work happens. So, the badge of coming to work when it’s essentially just to grab a coffee with colleagues is called Coffee Badging.
According to NDTV, Owl Labs – a firm that creates 360-degree video conferencing solutions, in its 2023 State of Hybrid Work report underscores that ‘the yearly return-to-office power struggle between employers and employees that happens each fall has arrived yet again’. This contributed to the popularity of coffee badging.
Even companies such as Zoom, Meta, Salesforce, JP Morgan, and others have been asking and forcing their staff members to come back to the office.
‘Coffee badging’ is not just a quirky trend. It proposes a cultural shift in prioritising meaningful engagements over traditional markers of attendance, potentially shaping a new norm in the post-pandemic workplace.
Are you someone who has won your badge of coffee at your workplace?