Coffee badging

What It Means

Coffee badging is coming into the office for a short time, mostly to be seen, and then leaving to do the rest of the day's work from homeRemote workDoing your job from somewhere other than your employer's workplace, most often from home, for some or all of the workweek. See more. The usual picture is someone who arrives, gets a coffee, chats with a few colleagues and heads out. Merriam-Webster lists it as slang that grew up as employers asked people back to the workplace after the Covid pandemic.

How People Say It at Work

• "He coffee badged and was home by eleven."
• "Badge in, grab a latte, say hi, log on from the couch."
• "If we're only coffee badging, why are we commuting?"

The Breakdown

If you're tempted to coffee badge (Buhata's suggestion)

1. Read your employer's written policy: does it count days, hours, or both?
2. Work out why the short visit appeals, such as the commute, a quiet home office for focused work, or a school pickup.
3. Raise that reason directly with your manager, since a schedule change may solve it openly.
4. Plan office days around people: meetings, mentoring and work that's easier face to face.
5. Agree on which days your team overlaps, so the time on-site is worth the trip.

If you manage a team (Buhata's suggestion)

1. Say what the office time is for, such as collaboration, onboarding or customer meetings.
2. Line up team days so people find each other when they come in.
3. Keep the rule clear: days, hours or both.

Try it today. Put the calculator's share next to your company's policy. If the two don't match, that's the conversation to have.

Where It Comes From

Merriam-Webster traces the earliest uses of coffee badging to a study by Owl Labs, a company that makes video conferencing devices, at a time when many employers were bringing people back on-site after the Covid pandemic. Owl Labs has written about the practice in its own reports on hybrid workHybrid workA work arrangement that splits the week between working from home and working at the employer's site, such as three office days and two at home. See more.

Good to Know

Whether a short visit counts as an office day depends entirely on your employer's written policy, so read it before relying on one. If the policy doesn't say how attendance is counted, ask HR before you plan your week around it.

Related Terms and Categories

• Return to office

  An employer policy that calls staff who worked remotely back to the workplace for some or all of the week, often called an RTO mandate.

• Hybrid work

  A work arrangement that splits the week between working from home and working at the employer's site, such as three office days and two at home.

• Remote work

  Doing your job from somewhere other than your employer's workplace, most often from home, for some or all of the workweek.

• Presenteeism

  Going to work, or logging on, while sick or otherwise not well enough to work at your usual level, the reverse of an unplanned absence.

• Work-life balance

  How your time and energy divide between paid work and the rest of your life, such as family, rest, health and interests.

Work, career and remote life