Office hubby, wifey and other trends that Kenyans must leave in 2025
By Ascah Mwango, December 4, 2025Workplaces are changing fast, and 2025 is the year we finally leave some tired old office habits behind.
Offices are full of brilliant, hardworking people, but we all know there are a few things that make the office feel like a chaotic marketplace instead of a professional space. From unnecessary drama to strange personal routines, some habits are long overdue for retirement. Here are six that deserve a permanent exit.
1. Office hubby and wifey
We all love a good work friendship, that one person who understands your stress levels and laughs at your jokes even when they are not funny. But once people start treating each other like a full-time couple inside the office walls, things get messy very fast.
Suddenly, the two of you are sharing snacks like a real couple, taking long walks in the corridor, and whispering during meetings. Before you know it, everyone has an opinion about your situationship. It makes the atmosphere uncomfortable and distracts people who are just trying to finish their reports. Better to keep things friendly without turning the office into a telenovela.
2. Giant water bottles
Unless you are preparing for a hike to Namanga, giant water bottles are a bit too much. Hydration is important, but some colleagues show up with water bottles that look like they belong on a camping trip, not an office desk. Then some turn the bottle into a whole salad.
Lemons, cucumbers, mint, chia seeds, ginger chunks, berries, and sometimes something unidentifiable floating like an aquarium decoration.
The bottle is so big and so busy that even water gets confused. People keep refilling, shaking, sipping loudly, and making hydration a full-time activity. A normal bottle with normal water works perfectly fine, and it will not cause a traffic jam around the dispenser.
3. Warming strong foods like fish, omena, or pilipili-packed leftovers
The trauma in this is real if you are easily irritable. There is always one colleague who confidently warms fish at 8 am. as if the office is their personal kitchen. The microwave screams.
The smell travels from reception to HR. People open windows, wave notebooks, and hold their breath like they are training for swimming lessons. Food is life, but some meals are meant for home. Offices everywhere would truly appreciate a little love and wisdom when choosing what to eat at work.
4. Office gossip
Some people collect office secrets the way others collect Safaricom bonga points. They know who fought with whom, who is dating the CEO, who might resign, who got in trouble, and even who borrowed whose charger and never returned it.
The problem is that gossip spreads faster than a flash sale and leaves people feeling unsafe. Instead of working, everyone ends up watching their backs. When you avoid gossip, you help build a workplace where people actually trust each other and do not feel like characters in a daily TV drama.
5. Lateness
Some colleagues arrive late so often that you start checking if they live in another time zone. They walk in calmly, with a warm cup of tea, like nothing had happened. Meanwhile, the meeting started fifteen minutes ago, and the whole team had to pause and restart everything once the latecomer arrived.
Being late sounds harmless, but it disrupts work, slows down progress, and annoys your teammates. In 2025, let us all aim to be the dependable colleague who shows up on time without excuses.
6. Complaining about everything
Every office has that one person who has a problem for every solution. If the office is warm, they complain. If the AC works, they complain. If there is a meeting, they complain. If there is no meeting, they still complain.
It becomes exhausting for everyone else, and the energy in the room sinks. Of course, everyone has stressful days, but constant negative energy creates a dark cloud over the whole team. A little optimism can go a long way in making the workspace feel lighter.
7. Oversharing personal details
The office is not a therapy booth!
Friendliness is great, but some people cross the line and turn coworkers into unpaid counsellors. They share every detail of their relationship, their family arguments, and their private struggles.
It puts others in a difficult position because they do not know how to respond without sounding rude or too involved. Oversharing also becomes free content for gossip lovers. Keeping some personal information to yourself brings peace, protects your privacy, and keeps the office environment calm and comfortable.