What is ‘Coffee badging’? Can it lead to work-life balance?

‘Coffee badging’ is a new trend practiced by various workers. The employees are adopting this trend to protest Return-To-Office mandates. The workers want to achieve work-life balance by adopting this new trend. 

Many employees want a hybrid two or three-day workweek in the office and the other days at home. The battle between going into an office or working remotely has been going on for a while. Hence, workers adopted this new trend.

What is ‘Coffee badging’?

In this trend of ‘Coffee badging’, employees come to work just to show their faces. It is a kind of protest against the work-from office mandate. Employees come to the office, grab a cup of coffee and talk among coworkers. After a little while, the workers leave and earn a theoretical badge for showing up at the office.

The workers just come to the office to show their faces. They do not engage in work. They drink coffee and hold a good conversation with other employees.

A recent survey from Owl Lab revealed that 58 per cent of nearly 2,000 employees on a hybrid work model were practicing coffee badging.

Can ‘Coffee badging’ lead to work-life balance?

Some employees said that they practiced ‘Coffee badging’ to achieve a healthy work-life balance. They said they preferred work-from-home or hybrid mode to do their work. During ‘Coffee badging’, they do less work. The employees said it led to a healthy work-life balance.

Previously, employees started various trends to achieve work-life balance. They practiced trends like quiet quitting, acting their wage and Bare Minimum Mondays.

‘Coffee badging’ has started as a way for employees to meet their required in-office mandates, but avoid spending too much time at the office. 

Some workers also adopted the ‘Bleisure and Workation’ trend for work-life balance. ‘Bleisure’ is a term to describe business and leisure, while ‘Workation’ is a term used to describe combining work with leisure. Bleisure and Workation provides healthy work-life balance to employees. They combine fun activities and work to create a memorable and rewarding travel experience.