Why is everyone talking about… coffee badging?

Do you have an influx of ‘coffee badgers’ at your organisation? The term refers to employees who come into the office (usually as part of a return-to-office programme) and swipe their badge to have a system acknowledge their presence. Then they may grab a coffee, mingle with a few colleagues and quickly retreat home to finish the day from there. 

The practice itself has stirred up quite a bit of controversy, but is it even a real thing? According to a survey by videoconference platform Owl Labs, 58% of hybrid workers admitted to ‘coffee badging’ at some point (with 8% being interested in trying it out). In a world of grey-area policies on hybrid working and a lack of clarity on returning to the office, what is it about ‘coffee badging’ that is striking such a chord? 

In conversation with People Management, Charmi Patel, Associate Professor in International Human Resource Management at Henley Business School, explains the risks of focusing too much on ‘coffee badging’: “Some leaders, unfortunately, see coffee badging as cheating… It’s crucial to address trust issues that may arise between employers and employees concerning productivity. Micromanaging through office attendance monitoring can erode trust.”

Is there a role for leaders here? Archana Bharathan, an executive coach at Columbia Business School, offers the following advice: “My encouragement to any employer that sees employees going through the motions of meeting a minimum in-office expectation would be to consider whether the expectation is actually going to lead to impact… If the answer is yes, help your people recognise that so they’ll spend more time in the office, and if the answer is no, I’d revisit the requirement.”

From our side, coffee badging itself isn’t the sole issue. Instead, it’s a broader lack of trust between employers and employees. The best way to address both is by embracing a mix of clarity and transparency. We’d recommend considering the following:

• Communicate your RTO policy: Cement your policy on paper and communicate it widely — but you should also be clear on the KPIs that will determine if your RTO programme is successful. Be clear with your employees and your HR team on what you want to achieve. 

• Empower your employees and managers: Work with your leaders to establish expectations and construct working models for optimal performance with employees. This can help maintain a culture of performance over attendance. 

• Facilitate an optimal office environment: Are your employees rejecting your office because it doesn’t suit their needs? Think about your workplace strategy and how it can help employees perform (and facilitate moments of serendipity, too). 

• Don’t rush to surveillance methods: Employees who feel surveyed are less likely to be productive and more likely to leave. If you’re concerned, exercise caution in how hard you crack down — or you may risk the unnecessary attrition of top performers.

• The power of trust and transparency in employee retention

• This week in HR: Productivity paranoia 

• Perry Timms: 6 HR ‘rules’ to unlearn in 2024

That's all for this week's edition of Personio Pulse: This Week in HR. Check back next week as we continue to dissect the latest trends impacting the ways we work. 

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