coffee badging

The crackdown, the messages say, seems to be focused on “coffee badging,” a term coined in a 2023 report by the videoconferencing hardware company Owl Labs. “Coffee badging” refers to workers who pop into the office to grab a coffee and then head home, allowing them to skirt in-office requirements but still clock the appropriate number of badge swipes. The trend extends beyond Amazonians. The 2023 report found more than half of respondents at various companies said they would use the technique.

Amazon cracks down on ‘coffee badging,’ amid return-to-office push Lauren Rosenblatt 2024

“Coffee badging is really the art of showing up in the office to check a box, because your office has some return-to-office mandate,” said Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs, a workplace technology company that coined the term “coffee badging” after its quarterly workplace survey found nearly 60% of workers said their response to the RTO mandate was to badge in, get a coffee, say hi to everybody and leave.

Workplace jargon reflects changing power dynamics - Marketplace Stacey Vanek Smith 2024