The “coffee badger” is becoming a familiar figure in today’s hybrid workplace: someone who swipes their badge, grabs a coffee, chats briefly with colleagues—then quietly slips out to work remotely.
What began as a tongue-in-cheek workaround to return-to-office (RTO) mandates is now a widespread phenomenon—and a growing concern for companies trying to restore pre-pandemic office norms.
How Big Is the Coffee Badging Problem?
It’s not just a niche trend. Surveys show 44% of hybrid U.S. workers admit to coffee badging, and over 58% say they’ve done it at least once. And it’s not limited to tech or big companies—75% of employers across industries say they’re grappling with it.
Some high-profile organizations are taking action. Samsung’s U.S. semiconductor division recently warned employees about “lunch/coffee badging” and introduced a monitoring system to track in-office compliance. Amazon, too, has cracked down, holding one-on-one meetings with employees to confirm how many actual hours are being spent in the office.
Why Is This Happening?
Return-to-office policies were meant to boost collaboration and productivity. Instead, they’ve triggered quiet resistance.
Many employees—especially millennials—are meeting the bare minimum requirements of hybrid work. They're showing up just enough to appear compliant, but not enough to abandon the remote work lifestyle they’ve grown used to.
Surprisingly, it’s not just junior staff. One study found 47% of managers also coffee badge—more than the 34% of individual contributors—highlighting that this behavior spans all levels.
How Are Companies Responding?
Some firms are turning to surveillance: tracking badge swipes, logging in-office hours, and setting stricter attendance expectations. By 2022, 60% of companies were monitoring employee office presence—and that number has likely grown.
Others are trying a different approach, moving from hours-based policies to performance-based evaluations. Some are investing in better office perks, flexible schedules, or simply trying to make the workplace more attractive than mandatory.
But for many leaders, coffee badging is more than a policy issue—it’s a red flag for deeper disengagement. And one-size-fits-all RTO rules may be making things worse.
What’s Next?
Coffee badging is less about avoiding work and more about employees sending a message: the traditional office no longer aligns with how many white-collar professionals work best.
As long as remote work remains productive—and office time feels like a checkbox rather than a necessity—coffee badging will persist. Companies hoping to win the return-to-office battle may need to stop enforcing and start listening.
To move forward, they must rethink not just how they track presence, but why the office matters at all.