Managing a hybrid team at work? Create a plan to deal with "coffee badging" ☕ 👋

If you're a manager, you've likely seen the debate. Some people think remote work is the best thing since sliced bread, while others believe it's the ultimate productivity killer.

Things became even more complicated when hybrid work emerged as a middle-ground solution to the debate.

Hybrid work also introduced new problems like "coffee badging". And no, despite the name, it doesn't mean putting a badge on your coffee. 😉

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

Here's where the term comes from:

• Coffee: grabbing a coffee and briefly socializing in the office.

• Badging: using an employee badge to enter the building, which records that you were there.

Coffee badging becomes a problem when employees are required to come to the office but have little reason to stay and work there. When it becomes common, it can create challenges for both employees and managers.

Staff

• Wasted commute time: When employees travel to the office but have little meaningful in-person work to do, they lose time and money commuting without receiving the collaboration benefits.

• Lower engagement and motivation: Employee engagement can suffer when workplace policies do not align with employee preferences and work needs.

Management

• Signals a lack of support: If employees badge in and leave, managers may take this as a sign that employees do not believe office attendance adds value.

• Makes coordination difficult: Hybrid work relies on coordinating when people are together. If employees leave shortly after arriving, opportunities for collaboration, mentoring, and team interaction may be reduced.

You need a few skills to fix the coffee badging problem:

• Data analysis to identify attendance patterns.

• Communication to ask employees why they leave.

• Problem solving to determine which work requires office attendance and which can be done remotely.

• Collaboration planning to schedule team workshops and mentoring sessions on office days.

• Change management to introduce the new schedule and gain buy-in.

If you have to narrow it down to the most important skills, choose communication, problem-solving, and collaboration to focus on.

To use communication skills to resolve this issue:

• Ask employees why they're leaving.

• Explain expectations and the purpose of office days.

• Gain employee understanding and support.

Photo by Vitaly Gariev on Unsplash

• Identify the root cause of coffee badging.

• Determine which work requires in-person collaboration and which can be done remotely.

• Design a hybrid schedule that works for employees and for team goals.

Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash

• Schedule team meetings, mentoring sessions, workshops, and collaborative work on office days.

• Create meaningful reasons for employees to stay and engage with each other in the office.

A manager realizes employees are coffee-badging because they see little value in staying at the office.

Which hybrid-work plan would best foster an environment that can reduce coffee-badging?

A. Require employees to come to the office three days a week and track badge swipes to ensure that all employees are following the rule.

B. Schedule office days around team projects, mentoring sessions, and collaborative problem-solving activities, while reserving individual work for remote days.

C. Allow employees to choose any office day they want, without coordinating schedules across teams.

D. Require all meetings to be virtual, even when employees are in the office.

Work on a collaboration plan for your next move to deal with coffee badging: