Coffee Badging-Return To Office, Kinda…

Office workers mandated to return to the office, at least a few times a month, are finding a productive way to work the system to get noticed, socialize, meet with their colleagues, and not face horrendous commutes. They work from home in the morning, then zip in when the commute traffic has died down, spend 11 am to 3 pm making the rounds, hanging out at the coffee machine, saying hello to the bosses and make sure they are noticed, then before the afternoon commute starts they are on their way back to home to get more real work done. “More than half, 58%, of hybrid workers admit to “coffee badging,” or the act of going into the office building for their morning coffee, earning an imaginary badge for it, and then going home to work for the remainder of the day. That’s according to a June survey of 2,000 people from Owl Labs, a company that makes videoconferencing devices.”  Jennifer Liu, CNBC, Oct. 5, 2023