Stop the crackdown on coffee-badging — here's the real problem

Coffee badging is a performative response to a performative return-to-office expectation, writes tech recruiter Bonnie Dilber.

• Employees are 'coffee badging' by briefly showing up at the office and then leaving.
• Tech recruiter Bonnie Dilber says companies shouldn't be surprised by it and should focus instead on results.
• Employers should make in-office work more beneficial or drop the requirement to be there.

You can't go a day in 2024 without hearing about another workplace trend. The latest one: Coffee badging.

Coffee badging is what employees do when employers ask them to work from an office, even when their work can be done remotely. Employees briefly show up at the office, "badge in," grab a coffee — and then leave and complete their work elsewhere.

Why are people doing this? Well, often because there's no great rationale for why they need to be in an office — and they're actually more productive at home.

Employers have asked employees to return to offices after remote work spread across tech and corporate America (and the world) during the pandemic, and for some workplaces, this makes sense. Being in the same place with fellow team members may lead to more collaboration and stronger relationships. Early career employees may benefit from being in person with more tenured colleagues and their managers, which provides more opportunities for mentoring, coaching, and feedback.

But this isn't the reality for many employees who find themselves "coffee badging." Instead, they may find themselves sitting in an office on Zoom calls that they could have taken from home, or distracted by the busyness of the office leaving them to catch up after work when they get home.

Here's my take: Bring it on. If there's not a good reason for employees to be in an office, I don't think employers should be surprised when they opt to stay home. Better yet, take steps to make coffee badging unnecessary in the first place.

The workplace is constantly changing alongside the rest of the world. Fifty years ago, remote work didn't exist. Today, there are entire companies worth billions that are remote-first and have no offices (for example, the automation company where I work, Zapier, or the event management platform Hopin). Modern tools make it possible for people to collaborate and be even more productive without ever leaving their home.

If employees found the office to be a place that enabled them to be more productive and do great work, they would likely go in. If there are purposeful reasons for an employee to be in an office, then employers should require them to be there.

But if it's simply a requirement without any real purpose? Well, if the expectation is performative, I see no issues with employees responding with performative compliance.

My encouragement to any employer who notices coffee badging happening:

1. Explore the purpose of the expectation. Do employees have a good reason to come to the office and stay there? Are they working on things that can be done better in person? Are they working side-by-side with managers or peers they can learn from? If not, then consider ways to make office time more purposeful to incentivize employees to not just show up, but stay.
2. Focus on results. Look at data on productivity and outputs for teams. Are those in offices delivering stronger results? If so, that may help make a case for why they should be in office. But if there's no difference or they are more productive at home, then it may be time to drop that requirement.
3. Talk to your employees. If you notice coffee badging happening in your business, talk to your people. Ask them why they are coming in for such a short time. They might have insights around barriers to productivity in the office so you can make changes that will help them be more present and more productive.

Coffee badging isn't a signal that employees are checked out or quiet quitting. It's a sign that employees simply do not see the need to be in the office to do their best work.

Employers should either figure out how to make being in the office more purposeful — or drop that office requirement altogether.