Coffee Badging
Briefly visiting the workplace for leaving to work from home
Example
You coming to the office tomorrow?
Yeah, but just for some coffee badging. Gotta show my face, then I’m out
Nice. I might do the same—just long enough to grab a latte and check a few emails
Can you score under par in this golf terms quiz?
Coffee badging is a workplace slang term for when employees briefly show up at the office—just long enough to be seen—before leaving to work remotely for the rest of the day. The name comes from grabbing a coffee, checking in with their badge for attendance, and then promptly heading out.
The trend gained popularity in the early 2020s as companies pushed for a return to the office while employees resisted, preferring the flexibility of remote work. Coffee badging is especially common among white-collar professionals in tech, finance, and corporate jobs, where hybrid work models became the norm.
You will likely see the term on social media and workplace forums, like LinkedIn and Reddit, when employees joke about "doing their coffee badging duty" before leaving. Some companies have tried to counter this trend with stricter office policies, while others quietly tolerate it as long as productivity remains high.