Coffee badgers in corporate offices: Can they survive?

A 24-year-old walked into his office space. It was 4pm. He was expected to work from the employer's headquarters in Mumbai, four days a week.

- DEVINA SENGUPTA

He latched onto snippets of gossip from the few colleagues he spotted, did the bare minimum required of him, and left at 7pm. In between coffee breaks, he met the boss and exchanged some notes. His team members were not around. They had come in earlier in the day and left by 4pm.

Now, you cannot blame anyone. The team followed the office diktat of coming to work on scheduled days. The company wanted employees working at their workstations, with minimal water-cooler chats. Alas, it got 'coffee badgers' instead.

'Coffee badging' is a post-work-from-home phenomenon. The archetypal coffee badger comes to office, punches in his or her attendance, hangs around for a few hours to chat with—and be seen by—others, and then leaves for home to work remotely.

Coffee badgers were few and far between when companies first started calling their workforce back to their office stations. But once the pressure of returning mounted, with appraisals and bonuses getting tagged to working from office, employees revolted. Coffee badging became their way.

The human resources (HR) head of a business house is surprised at how long it is taking to get the workforce not just physically back to office, but convincing them to bring their ace game along as well.