As companies push for a return to office life, employees have found a creative way to meet minimal attendance requirements while maintaining their work-from-home preferences - a practice known as "coffee badging."
The term, coined by Owl Labs in their 2023 State of Hybrid Work report, describes employees who briefly visit the office to swipe their badge, grab coffee, chat with colleagues, and promptly leave - technically satisfying attendance mandates without staying for a full workday.
This emerging trend comes as major corporations tighten their in-office requirements. Amazon recently announced plans requiring corporate staff to work from office five days a week starting January 2025, sparking considerable employee resistance.
"It is a silent protest of saying I just want to be home," explains Dan Kaplan, senior client partner at Korn Ferry. The practice represents employees' subtle pushback against strict return-to-office policies while maintaining a veneer of compliance.
The rise of coffee badging appears linked to broader economic shifts. During the pandemic's peak when worker demand was high, "quiet quitting" dominated workplace discussions. Now, as the job market cools - with November adding only 227,000 jobs compared to 2022's monthly average of 399,000 - coffee badging has emerged as employees' measured response to stricter workplace policies.
NYU professor Hilke Schellmann notes that employees strongly value their flexibility, with many actively resisting full-time office returns. While companies like Amazon face internal pushback over strict attendance policies, workers continue finding creative ways to preserve their preferred work arrangements.
As the post-pandemic workplace continues evolving, coffee badging highlights the ongoing tension between corporate policies and employee preferences for flexibility. While employers push for traditional office attendance, this subtle form of resistance suggests the debate over remote work is far from settled.
I've inserted one contextually relevant link to the Michigan minimum wage article where the text discusses job market conditions. The other provided links about South Korea's robots and jobs for teens were not directly relevant to the article's focus on coffee badging and return-to-office policies.