New ‘coffee badging’ job trend has some business leaders on high alert

Published

2 years ago

December 20, 2023

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In post-pandemic times, many employers and companies are continuing to mandate a return to the office for their workers and some employees are responding with a particular form of pushback.

First, there was the trend “quiet quitting,” in which workers did the bare minimum on the job just to get by and now, say workplace leaders and experts, theres “coffee badging,” another form of employee protest.

Read on to learn about this career trend, how it’s impacting offices across the nation and what actions can be taken in response to it.

As some employees are being called back to the office, many are subtly protesting by returning to the office for as little time as possible, Frank Weishaupt, CEO of Owl Labs in Boston, told FOX Business.

“Coffee badging is when employees show up to the office for enough time to have a cup of coffee, show their face and get a badge swipe’ then go home to do the rest of their work,” said Weishaupt.

His firm, Owl Labs, which makes 360 video conferencing devices, did a deep dive into the trend’s data.

“Our 2023 State of Hybrid Work report found that only about 1 in 5 workers (22%) want to be in the office full time, with 37% wanting hybrid work options and 41% preferring to be fully remote,” said Weishaupt.

Further, he said the Owl Labs study found that more than half (58%) of hybrid workers are “coffee badging,” while another 8% said they haven’t done it yet but would like to try it.

People at all levels of companies and organizations are busy with their own jobs, so they dont have time to keep tabs on everyone elses whereabouts, said Weishaupt.

“If a coffee badger doesnt have any in-person meetings or a desk near the boss, the person might not be missed,” he said.

“Our data shows that about two-thirds of managers (64%) have coffee badged themselves, with another 6% who want to try it,” he also said.

“Less than a third of managers (30%) want to go to the office for the full day.”

Niki Jorgensen, managing director of client implementation with Insperity in Denver, told FOX Business that several months ago, coffee badging began making news as the latest work trend.

“Coffee badging is simply the latest example of the challenges businesses are facing with transitioning employees back to the office after the pandemic,” she said.

It’s important for each business to do its own research into coffee badging, Jorgensen suggested.

“There is no need to panic over coffee banging, yet if a business finds most of its employees are coffee badging, that could reflect the need to reevaluate their organization’s culture and work-from-home policies,” she told FOX Business.

Often, but not always, coffee badging is a reflection of employee dissatisfaction with an organizations culture or hybrid policies, said Jorgensen.

“Coffee badging can seem disrespectful or even insubordinate to business leaders who expect their employees to spend a full day in the office,” she said.

Yet “it’s important to understand that the motivations for coffee badging are rarely ill-intentioned,” she clarified.

“In many cases, employees are coffee badging because they want to improve their work-life balance.”

Company managers may want to focus on a few strategies to halt coffee badging among employees, Jorgensen said.

“To combat it, invite employees to speak up about their experience in the workplace and share solutions to help them balance their work and personal lives more easily,” she said.

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When the practice becomes too widespread among employees, the trend can detract from organizational culture, Jorgensen indicated.

“When workers only come into the office briefly and then leave, they are not spending as much time interacting face to face,” she told FOX Business.

“Over time, this can undermine relationship-building and reduce collaboration.”

Emily Ballesteros, founder of Burnout Management, LLC, in Seattle and author of the upcoming book, “The Cure for Burnout: How to Find Balance and Reclaim Your Life” (Feb. 2024), told FOX Business that a downside to the coffee badging trend is that it creates unpredictability that can impact others.

“Trying to schedule meetings when you’re unsure of who is virtual or in-person; planning around commutes to and from the office; needing clarification on whether a meeting is virtual or in-person, etc. all of this adds a bit more unpredictability to the workday that can cause frustration,” Ballesteros said.

To reduce unpredictability, many companies are introducing hybrid schedules.

“They have seen on surveys that their employees would like the flexibility to work from home sometimes,” she said.

“So rather than have constant flux and unpredictability around who is where, they create a schedule that meets people in the middle, such as saying that everyone works from home Monday and Friday and everyone is in the office Tuesday-Thursday,” noted Ballesteros.

“Where there is unrest, there is usually a need to be met.”

World

Moldova’s ruling pro-EU party takes lead in parliamentary elections against Russia-leaning rivals

Published

24 mins ago

September 29, 2025

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Moldova's ruling pro-EU party takes lead in parliamentary elections against Russia-leaning rivals

Moldova’s pro-EU party seems to have secured a strong win against its Russia-leaning rival in what has been described as the most consequential election since the country’s independence.

With more than 99% of votes counted, Moldova’s ruling party, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), had a share of 49.99%, versus 24.28% for the Patriotic Bloc, which opposes closer ties with Brussels.

Holding a majority in the 101-seat chamber would allow PAS to keep pushing for its goal of joining the EU.

If it falls short, it will have to try to form a coalition with smaller parties.

The Patriotic Bloc aims to win power and steer the nation – a former Soviet republic – away from closer ties with Brussels and the EU.

Moldova’s pro-Western president Maia Sandu, who wants the country to join the EU by 2030, reiterated long-held claims that Russia has interfered with elections.

After casting her ballot, she said: “Russia poses a danger to our democracies. Our democracy is young and fragile, but that does not mean that states with longer democracies are not in danger.

“We want to live in a democracy.”

In the build up to the election, Prime Minister Dorin Recean warned that Russia was spending “hundreds of millions” of euros as part of an alleged hybrid war to try to seize power, which he described as “the final battle for our country’s future”.

PAS leaders, including the party’s leader Igor Grosu, have called vote the most consequential in Moldova since independence.

Moscow has always denied meddling and says the government is spreading anti-Russian hysteria to win votes.

Election day itself was marked by a string of incidents, ranging from bomb threats at multiple polling stations abroad to cyber attacks on electoral and government infrastructure.

Police also detained three people suspected of plotting to cause unrest after the vote.

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed the apparent results of the elections as he said on X: “Despite attempts at interference and pressure, the choice of Moldovan citizens has been strongly affirmed.

“France stands alongside Moldova in its European project and its drive for freedom and sovereignty.”

EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said: “Moldova, you’ve done it again.”

Why would Russia want to interfere?

Moldova is landlocked between Ukraine and Romania.

The country of about 2.5 million people has spent recent years on a Westward path and gained candidate status to the EU in 2022, shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

If Moldova becomes a permanent EU member, it would mean a distancing from Moscow, as the EU has offered support to Ukraine and has put various sanctions in place against Russia.

However, candidate status does not guarantee a country membership to the EU.

In order for a country to become a full member, candidates must adopt democratic norms and undertake reforms to meet EU rules, regulations and standards.

All EU governments then have to agree before that country can be admitted as an EU member.

UK

London mayor Sadiq Khan hits out at ‘misinformation’ as new figures show fall in crimes

Published

24 mins ago

September 29, 2025

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London mayor Sadiq Khan hits out at 'misinformation' as new figures show fall in crimes

Sadiq Khan has hit back at politicians “spreading misinformation” about safety in London as new data shows the number of violent crimes leading to injury has fallen in every borough over the past year.

Figures from the mayor’s office for policing and crime compare the 12 months ending in August 2025 with the previous 12 months – and show there were 8,749 fewer crimes which resulted in someone being hurt, a drop of nearly 12%.

The borough of Havering in east London recorded the largest drop (16.3%) followed by Enfield in north London (16.1%).

The smallest decreases were in Greenwich (4.3%) and Kensington and Chelsea (4.6%).

Sir Sadiq said: “We’ve seen a number of politicians here and across the globe talking down London and spreading misinformation about crime and safety in the capital.

“The evidence is clear, our approach to tackling crime and its complex causes works. It’s driving down violence right across the capital.”

His comments come after Donald Trump reignited his feud with Sir Sadiq earlier this month by accusing him of doing a “terrible job” and claiming “crime in London is through the roof”.

The US president also hit out at the mayor in a speech at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, where he also made the outlandish claim that London “wants Sharia law” – something there is no evidence for.

Asked about the attacks, Sir Sadiq said: “I think President Trump has shown he is racist, he is sexist, he is misogynistic, and he is Islamophobic.”

He added that the public would be “wondering what it is about this Muslim mayor who leads a liberal, multicultural, progressive, successful city that means I appear to be living rent-free inside Donald Trump’s head”.

According to the mayor’s office, overall homicides in London are at a 10-year low, and the city’s rate is lower than in Berlin, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and all major US cities.

The rate of homicide was down by 17% in the 12-month period to June this year compared with the 12-month period to May 2016, it previously said.

Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Rachel Williams said: “We’re targeting the most dangerous individuals, disrupting criminal networks, and investing in prevention to protect those most at risk.

“That’s why fewer people are being hurt, fewer lives are being lost, and London is becoming a safer city.”

The Conservatives rejected the suggestion that London is safer.

Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Under this Labour mayor, criminals know the odds are stacked in their favour.

“Only one in 20 robberies is solved, fewer offenders are being jailed, and more than a thousand police officers have been cut from the Metropolitan Police, with Sir Mark Rowley warning of further losses this year.

“Londoners don’t feel safer because London isn’t safer.”

UK

Penny Lancaster says she felt ‘belittled’ by ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace

Published

24 mins ago

September 29, 2025

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Penny Lancaster says she felt 'belittled' by ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace

Model Penny Lancaster has said she “felt ashamed and belittled” by how former MasterChef host Gregg Wallace treated her on the TV show.

Lancaster, who is also a TV personality, and is married to singer Rod Stewart, told Sky News’ The UK Tonight with Sarah-Jane Mee programme that she also felt let down by MasterChef’s production company Banijay UK.

“I didn’t feel like I was supported in that moment, I felt ashamed and belittled by the way Greg Wallace had treated me but equally I felt disappointed that the production company hadn’t come to my rescue,” Lancaster, 54 and a MasterChef contestant in 2021, said.

“There is a long way to go, but just by people coming forward and being honest about their experiences I think will help in the long term.”

At the end of July, Wallace, 60, apologised after a report commissioned by Banijay UK, and carried out by law firm Lewis Silkin, found 45 out of 83 allegations against him were substantiated.

Sir Rod Stewart criticised Wallace on Instagram in November 2024 and claimed he “humiliated” his wife when she was on the show.

He wrote: “Good riddance Wallace… You humiliated my wife when she was on the show, but you had that bit cut out didn’t you?

“You’re a tubby, bald-headed, ill-mannered bully.”

Sky News has approached Wallace for comment.

He has previously apologised to people he has hurt, saying in July that he knows he has said things that have offended people. He has denied a specific allegation of unwanted touching.

The BBC referred Sky News to their statement from July, in which the corporation said: “Although the full extent of these issues were not known at the relevant time, opportunities were missed to address this behaviour – both by the production companies running MasterChef and the BBC. We accept more could and should have been done sooner.

“We want to thank all those who took part in the investigation, including those who first raised concerns directly with the BBC in November last year. We apologise to everyone who has been impacted by Mr Wallace’s behaviour.”

Banijay UK, the producers of MasterChef, told Sky News: “We are extremely sorry to anyone who has been impacted by any inappropriate behaviour by Gregg Wallace whilst working on our shows and felt unable to speak up at the time or that their complaint was not adequately addressed.

“Ways of reporting concerns whilst working on our productions, protocols around behaviour and training for both cast and crew, have improved exponentially in recent years and we constantly review welfare procedures across our productions to ensure that they are as robust as they can be.”