Bye-bye cubicles, hello coffee badging: The work trend you didn’t see coming

Now you see me, now you don’t…. Coffee badging is the new workplace trend or excuse rolling itself out as a backlash against return-to-office mandates, a hybrid work hangover, and a quiet rebellion against what employees have started to view as old-fashioned policies.

It’s the art of being visible without being present, where staff drop by the office just long enough to check roll call and then sneak home.

Carmen Murray is an ethnographer who studies online communities and behaviours by analysing digital interactions and content. She does this to understand social trends and cultural dynamics. It’s almost like a futurist, but based on reality, not assumption.

“After years of working from home, uninterrupted by commutes and office distractions, the demand to return to cubicles and desks has not been as smooth as employers may have wanted,” said Murray.

“Coffee badging is a workplace trend that’s surfaced as a reaction to organisational policies,” she explained.

“In a recent LinkedIn poll, 19% of over 1 500 respondents admitted to coffee badging. We see a clear divide between those who have adapted to hybrid work and those who resist its more restrictive iterations.”

Employees are brewing more than just complaints

Discussions about coffee badging reveal a polarised workforce. Murray analysed online discourse, identifying frustration as the dominant emotional cause.

“Half of the sentiment we analysed was negative,” she said. “Control and trust issues were a recurring theme, with employees feeling monitored and undervalued. Terms like ‘bossware’ that used to describe invasive employee monitoring tools came up frequently.”

She noted how employees expressed anger over surveillance measures like screen recording and location tracking, but companies who want bang for their buck.

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“There’s also a strong sentiment about the wastefulness of unnecessary commuting and the resulting environmental impact,” Murray said. “People are questioning the sustainability of policies that require them to burn fuel and time for no apparent reason. In the age of environmental consciousness, it feels counterintuitive and hypocritical.”

Yet, coffee badging isn’t all doom and gloom. Murray explained how the trend reveals a silver lining for companies willing to adapt. “Organisations that prioritise flexibility saw less coffee badging,” she said. “When employees feel empowered to align work with their personal lives, the need for this behaviour diminishes.”

Psychological and practical reaction

Psychologist Dr Jonathan Redelinghuys views coffee badging as much as a psychological reaction as it is a practical one.

“Coffee badging is about autonomy,” he said. “Employees want to reclaim control over how they work, especially after experiencing the benefits of remote work during the pandemic. It’s a subtle way of asserting independence.”

Redelinghuys explained that the trend also reflects deeper-seated frustrations within the workplace. “Employees feel that the return-to-office mandates often lack empathy,” he said. “For some, this is about more than convenience, and it’s about preserving mental health and maintaining a work-life balance. Coffee badging becomes a coping mechanism to manage the tension between personal needs and professional expectations.”

This behaviour, Redelinghuys added, might not always stem from defiance. “In some cases, it’s about testing boundaries or even finding a middle ground,” he said. “But it does highlight a broader issue, namely the need for workplaces to evolve and acknowledge the changing priorities of their staff.”

Hybrid is here: SA follows global shift

According to Murray, the concept is gaining traction in South Africa, albeit on a smaller scale than elsewhere globally.

Data from Discovery Insure revealed that 47% of drivers in its Vitality Drive programme now work in hybrid arrangements, with 23% of those who started working from home during the pandemic yet to return to the office full-time.

“This shows that South Africa is not immune to the global shift,” Murray said.

According to PwC’s 2024 Global Workforce Hopes and Fears Survey, almost two-thirds of South African office workers have adopted hybrid models. “The demand for flexibility is clear, but the challenge lies in balancing this with business expectations.”

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Rising costs fuel coffee badging

Murray said that factors unique to South Africa, such as the digital divide and rising transport costs, further complicate the push for office attendance. “The cost of living makes coffee badging not just a convenience but a necessity for some employees,” she said.

Murray believes the trend is part of a larger move towards smarter working methods. “We’re seeing the emergence of ‘smart presence,’ where employees only attend the office for meaningful collaboration or innovation,” she said. “’Sprint workspaces’, which focus on intensive project-based teamwork, are also gaining traction.”

Redelinghuys agreed and said that technology would come to aid in these instances. “Artificial Intelligence tools could transform how we work, taking over repetitive tasks and allowing people to focus on high-value contributions,” he said. “This could turn coffee badging into a deliberate, strategic behaviour rather than a reactionary one.”

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