What is Coffee Badging?

Coffee badging is the practice of briefly visiting the officewithout meaningfully engaging in on-site work. This is often just long enough to live up to badge-in demands, even if that's just a few minutes.

The term draws from the routine itself: badge in, grab a coffee, and leave. It’s a minimalist approach to hybrid attendance, typically used by employees who deal with unclear or unpopular return-to-office (RTO) policies.

This behavior has gained some popularity as companies increase on-site expectations without offering a strong reason to make the effort and stay. And while it may seem insignificant, it may signal serious issues in workplace culture, communication, and trust.

Why Coffee Badging Is on the Rise 🪪☕

Hybrid work has sparked off new behaviors many employers didn’t see coming. As businesses push for more in-office time, employees are finding creative ways to meet expectations while keeping the flexibility they like having.

And with coffee badging, employees show up at the office just long enough to swipe their badge, grab a coffee, a tea, or an energy drink, and head out. In some companies, a single employee might even badge-in for many employees during this short tour through the office's kitchen.

So why is it on the rise? There are many drivers:

• One driver is the lack of clarity or buy-in around RTO mandates. When leadership says, “be in the office” without a clear why, employees often comply in form, not in function. This system is easy to abuse.
• Then there’s the growing demand for autonomy and flexibility. In the past, in-site work was the norm for older generations. But at the present, after years of proving productivity from home, employees want more control over where and how they work.
• Coffee badging also reflects a pushback against “presence over performance” cultures. If showing up matters more than outcomes, some employees do the minimum physical presence required—no more, no less.
• Finally, it’s a symptom of a weak in-office value proposition. If coming in feels like a commute to your laptop with worse Wi-Fi, people question the point. Without a meaningful reason to stay, many choose to make an appearance and return home. Some employees feel they're wasting their money (hard-earned money) by commuting.

What Coffee Badging Signals About Your Company Culture

If there are several coffee badgers in your organization, it may be time to look beyond the behavior—and into the office culture.

• First, it can point to disengagement or quiet resistance. Employees may be passively pushing back against policies they find frustrating, outdated, or out of touch.
• It might also highlight a lack of trust between leadership and employees. When employees feel policies more like surveillance than support, people tend to find ways around them.
• Another common theme is the mismatch between policy intent and employee experience. What leadership sees as a way to strengthen collaboration, well, employees may view as performative or unnecessary.
• And finally, it often signals that the office environment isn’t attractive. If the office space—or the experience—doesn’t offer value beyond what’s available at home, even well-meaning employees may opt for a brief visit, a gulped-down coffee, and a fast exit.

How HR and Leaders Can Respond

Coffee badging has more to do with alignment than attendance. Instead of cracking down, smart leaders are leaning in to understand the “why” behind the behavior and using it as a signal to refine their approach and effectively reduce coffee badging.

Redefine the “why” of in-office time

If the office is just a place to open a laptop, employees will question the commute. Explain the purpose and the advantages of in-site work—whether it’s collaboration, connection, creativity, sense of belonging, or culture-building—and make sure that purpose shows up in the day-to-day experience among colleagues.

Communicate expectations clearly

Vague mandates invite vague compliance. Be specific about what’s expected, when, and why. Bosses must be honest: If they think that working from home is driving productivity down, and they have data to back that claim up, then they should be straight about what they need from the employees.

Make office days meaningful

If you want your workforce to show up—and stay—talk to them, give them a reason. Team rituals, shared meals with coworkers, planning sessions, and face-to-face collaboration make office life feel intentional, not obligatory. In-site must, in some way, appeal to employees. Companies should express the benefits of in-site work compared to remote work.

Encourage your managers to lead by example

The one-size-fits-all approach (“You should come to the office because I say so!”) rarely works for hybrid workers. So there's always a chance to lead by example. Let's use a case scenario. If managers attend the office and learn to connect with remote workers who can't attend, then they're already saying to the other employees: “You see? I'm not penalizing you for not coming. That's why I work with remote workers as well. But, in your case, it's just that I need you to come occasionally.”

Track trends, not individuals

Instead of policing who comes in when, focus on patterns across teams or departments. Is a particular office underused? Is attendance dropping on specific days? These are the kind of questions that can drive a policy tweak, which can make people come back to the office because they actually want to.

The Amazon Coffee Badging Case

Amazon's RTO policy is an example of the challenges companies take on in the hybrid work era. When they drafted their hybrid work policy after the pandemic, Amazon required corporate employees to be in the office three days a week. But soon, managers realized that employees were engaging in “coffee badging,” and they decided to crack down on it.

Their first move was to start monitoring how many hours each employee spent at the office. Now that they were measuring the hours, Amazon implemented a policy that required employees to spend at least 2 to 6 hours per office visit to consider it a real visit and not just coffee badging.

But some employees were (and still are) unhappy with this new policy. An Amazon engineer in Germany called the new full five-day office mandate a “betrayal” and said it made some colleagues think about leaving the company.

So what is Amazon supposed to do? Because if limiting coffee badging means they're increasing turnover, they have a problem.Turnover, companies know, is expensive, possibly more costly than an employee jumping by to drink down a coffee.

Future of Coffee Badging: Trend or Permanent Red Flag? 🚩

Some HR reps are already asking colleagues if coffee badging it's something that will fade out in time, or if it's a fixture of hybrid work and they should crack down like Amazon did.

For some organizations, it’s a short-term behavior. A response to unclear policies, recent RTO mandates, or a mismatch that can be addressed with better communication and an actual meaning for office work.

But for others, it may signal long-term resistance to traditional structures. Not everybody is just looking for flexibility. Perhaps, some workers are all in with the work-from-home setup, and they'll push coffee badging until they can work as much time as they want away from the office.

So, when should companies act, and when should they adapt?

Act when attendance issues stem from confusion, disengagement, or cultural drift. Adapt when employees are still getting results, but choosing how and where they work best. The key is knowing the difference, and being open to adjust your strategy accordingly.

Ultimately, it’s time to reframe presence aspurpose, not policing. Suppose people understand why their presence matters (and it genuinely adds value), they’ll show up for more than just coffee. It must be convenient for them to show up and interact instead of working remotely.

Coffee Badging FAQs

Q: Is coffee badging considered time theft?

A: Not usually. It’s more a sign of unclear expectations than intentional misconduct. Employees could still perform very well and dedicate all their work hours to the company, but remotely.

Q: Is coffee badging a form of quiet quitting?

A: Sometimes. It can be a sign of disengagement, but it can also be a call for more flexibility.

Q: How do you prevent coffee badging without micromanaging?

A: Work on patterns instead of people, clarify the purpose of office time, and make it meaningful.