Why showing up late in the office is still a red flag

If you need to leave the office at 4 p.m. to pick up your kid, that's fine in more workplaces now. If you roll in at 10 a.m., prepare to be stink-eyed.

- Callum Borchers

In the postpandemic workplace, there is less pressure to be at our desks for eight-plus hours a day. But when we reduce our attendance, it matters.

So what is it about when we enter and exit the cubicle? We feel less self-conscious about leaving in the afternoon, after we've accomplished most of our tasks and had face time with the boss. Many of us log back on from home in the evening, so it is well understood that slipping out before 5 p.m. isn't a sign of slacking off.

Showing up late is another story. Even if you plan to compensate by staying at the office longer, it can look and feel like you're lagging behind colleagues who arrived sooner.

This is part of productivity theater, the office drama where visibility is key to playing the role of dedicated employee.

Acting methods include scheduling emails to be sent after you've called it a day, so it appears you're still working. There's also "coffee badging," the practice of swiping into the office just long enough to get a caffeine hit and an RTO credit.

TRACKING DEPARTURE TIMES

Most of us don't peace out right after a cup of joe. A new study of when office workers clock in and out helps quantify the performative nature of today's more flexible work habits.

New Yorkers step away from their desks an average of 13 minutes earlier than they did in 2019, according to commercial real-estate firm JLL. It used anonymized mobile-phone data to track arrival and departure times.