“Seen plenty of it in our place, even the managers do it. Show up for the big ‘mandatory but not really mandatory’ on-site meetings in the morning, and home at lunch,” a worker writes on Reddit.
Another says: “Lots of people in my office badge in, log in, leave at lunch. It’s against firm policy but if my employees do this, IDGAF [I don’t give a f—]. I’d rather they not quit on me after being stuck in afternoon traffic.”
Under TikTok posts of people parodying the idea, social media users confess to doing it a lot. “I run out as soon as no one is looking,” says one.
Companies are responding with tactics of their own, including so-called “office peacocking” where managers attempt to make the office as exciting as possible so that people actually want to be there. That can include everything from free food and drink to massages and more unusual perks such as in-office entertainment.
Despite their best efforts, most employers have found that nothing they can do beats the allure of simply being at home.
Dr Nahla Khaddage Bou-Diab, a leadership expert who runs a bank in Lebanon, argues that the perks being dished out by companies are irrelevant. Staff can see right through them.
“You can’t dress up control,” she says. “Office pantries, extravagant drinks rounds and team socials aside, return-to-office initiatives are, at their core, orders.
“Staff will ultimately resist the return to the office. For the last four years, they’ve experienced a whole new level of flexibility and humanity not seen before. Passive acts of resistance – ‘coffee badging’, for example – might only be the start.”
Some staff are engaged in active resistance. At the Office for National Statistics (ONS), employees have been asked to return to the office two days a week. The move has sparked uproar and union bosses have told civil servants to protest by refusing to comply.