Labor trends, ideas, and the terminology describing work are continually developing as things like salary transparency and quiet trends make waves.
A new trend, “coffee badging,” has emerged, with more than half (58%) of hybrid employees in one survey saying they take part in it. The survey is from the AI-powered conferencing platform Owl Labs. Coffee badging is when workers go into the office quickly, to socialize with co-workers or grab a coffee, before leaving again.
Coffee badging could be a reason employees are going back into the office, according to the Owl Labs report. Only 34% of surveyed employees said they prefer to work in the office for the full day when they are there. And only 8% said they don’t currently coffee badge but would be interested in doing so down the line.
According to the survey, men participate in coffee badges much more than women. Sixty-two percent of those who admitted to participating in the trend are men, versus only 38% of women. The oldest workers in the office, Baby Boomers, were least likely to coffee badge. Millennials were the most likely generation to coffee badge, with 63% saying they admit to showing up for the sake of being seen.
Going Back to the Office
According to the report, nearly all (94%) of workers surveyed said they could be convinced to work in the office in some capacity regularly. But nearly 29% of workers said they would expect a pay increase to offset their commuting costs. A quarter also said they would forfeit 15% of their annual salary for flexible working conditions.
If hybrid work is here to stay, CFOs and their teams should know how much in-person work can be done while still being considered hybrid from the employee’s perspective. According to Owl Labs, most employees (45%) work a hybrid schedule that has three days per week of in-office work. Less than a quarter work two or four days a week (24% and 23%, respectively).
There are unique challenges when managing remote or hybrid employees, and managers said their top concern is IT support issues (34%). Other concerns include maintaining cultural connection, team camaraderie, and communication (34%), employee engagement (32%), and employee satisfaction (32%).
The lack of in-person communication is a noticeable hurdle for managers and their direct reports. Sixty-eight percent of managers said their remote and hybrid team members are missing out on impromptu or in-formal feedback opportunities, and 48% of remote and hybrid workers agree.
Side Gigs
As rising costs have hit employees as hard as they’ve hit companies, many workers have been forced to get second jobs outside of their full-time work to get by. According to Owl Labs, 46% of employees have at least one additional job or “side hustle” outside of their full-time job and 16% said they do not have an additional job but plan to start one in the next year. Full-time office workers are more than twice as likely to have an additional job than hybrid and remote workers, the report found.