Moonlighting to Coffee Badging: Check new lexicon that has become part of employees in WFH era

Hyderabad: Social media platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram, have become virtual arenas for employees to discuss and share stories about workplace experiences, often using trending HR buzzwords.

This digital dialogue is reshaping the narrative around employment practices and providing a space for both established and emerging workers to connect and communicate.

With the rise of WFH (work from home) and WFA (work from anywhere) as permanent fixtures, understanding the evolving lexicon of the working world has become crucial. Social media, particularly Instagram, plays a pivotal role in shaping new buzzwords that reflect the changing dynamics of work culture.

Here are some newly coined buzzwords making waves on social media:

Moonlighting:

- A trend where individuals take on side hustles or even full-time jobs alongside their primary employment.

- "Moonlighting is becoming a badge of honor, challenging the traditional 9-to-5. With remote work, the possibilities for moonlighting are almost endless," shared Amit Tyagi, HR of Deloitte.

Coffee Badging:

- The practice of briefly showing up at the workplace to fulfill time requirements, such as getting a coffee, without fully engaging in work.

- Common in flexible or hybrid work models, this approach emphasizes fulfilling obligations rather than active participation.

Quiet Quitting:

- Doing the bare minimum to fulfill job requirements and setting clear boundaries to maintain a work-life balance.

- Seen as a rejection of hustle culture, quiet quitting gained popularity on Instagram sparking debates about employee burnout and healthy boundaries.

Quiet Firing:

- A management strategy of disengaging employees to the point where they quit on their own, avoiding the need for formal termination.

- Tactics include micromanaging, reduced salary increases, and exclusion from meetings, creating a subtle but effective form of employee removal.

Hustle Culture:

- The mentality that employees must work longer hours and aggressively push themselves to advance their careers.

- Often associated with burnout, hustle culture encourages working beyond normal hours and thinking about work during personal time.

Side Gig/Side Hustle:

- Additional jobs or freelance work undertaken to supplement income.

- With around 45% of IT employees in India having a side hustle, these endeavors have become essential for covering expenses in the face of rising living costs.

Body Doubling:

- A technique to help people with ADHD focus and complete tasks by having someone around, physically or virtually, to provide accountability.

- The body double doesn't contribute to the work but helps the individual stay on task and get started.

Productivity Paranoia:

- Coined by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella, it reflects a fear among companies about decreased productivity in a remote work culture.

- Despite employees reporting increased productivity, companies are concerned about maintaining performance levels over an extended remote work period.

Frolleagues:

- A fusion of "friends" and "colleagues," referring to colleagues who also become friends.

- Studies suggest that having "frolleagues" contributes to increased productivity and job satisfaction.

Proximity Bias:

- The unconscious preference for individuals physically closer, leading to biased decisions in favor of those working in proximity.

- With the rise of remote work, proximity bias has become a challenge, impacting decisions and perceptions related to productivity.