https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/16/quiet-quitting-and-coffee-badging-why-employees-dont-want-to-work.html
Workers checking in at the office and then quickly checking back out is the latest symptom of growing employee disengagement.
Oh, c'mon, this is like... the 5th different moniker for the same damned thing in a year, what's the fixation with this phenomenon? Things're pretty clear, everyone's figured out the game and we're now playing it accordingly!
Employers lost their minds when they saw their office employees comfortable and happy. They realized that WFH gave them just a little bit of control over their day, and that meant the employers haf just a little bit less.
Then they tried to strong-arm them back into the office, and a lot of people quit. Those who did not were less than enthused to be there, and many people were completely burnt out from the pandemic. Employers returned to offices having lost their most productive people, and having angered a significant number of those who stayed. Many disgruntled workers talked about cutting back their work activities, since they rexognized that their efforts didn't eben earn them the trust to work without their boss standing over their shoulder, let alone more tangible bemefits.
Around the same time, reports of a completely separate phenomenon - one where employees gradually disengage from their jobs as they search for a new one - came out. These were based on corporate research that showed you could predict who would tender a resignation days or even weeks before they did so. This phenomenon was given a name by the report's authors.
Once that name got misapplied to the former consequences-of-employer-actions, bosses got talking, and people who are Very Serious Business People Who Are Very Serious Abpit Business went into action to do what Business People do best: talk confidently about bullshit and things they know nothing about.
The result has been a "-gate" like meme of reproducing and evolving names for things that people with too much time and money believe are keeping them from owning peoples souls.
Because "you need to name a problem to solve a problem".
Employers lost their minds when they saw their office employees comfortable and happy. They realized that WFH gave them just a little bit of control over their day, and that meant the employers haf just a little bit less.
More specifically, managers lost their minds when they realized that holding meetings all day doesn’t actually accomplish anything productive. There are countless middle managers out there who faced an existential crisis when they saw people’s productivity actually increase during WFH. Everything they’ve done since then has been one ham-fisted attempt after another to shove the cat back in the bag.
It's upper management that wanted people back mire than anyone. They had no one to show off their wealth and power to.
They also had real estate investments and conflicts of interest that were in jeopardy. If everyone stopped coming into the office then the property values in the area would drop off a cliff (no one buying lunch at local restaurants, shopping on breaks, etc). Unused offices close, property values continue to plunge. Bad for anyone who owns commercial property in the area!