diff --git a/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/header.scss b/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/header.scss
index 0373bfc4ed5bb512b4c73371827c9206c2596881..3945a789c82835b3d14f571cf5cd92d99046b52d 100644
--- a/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/header.scss
+++ b/app/assets/stylesheets/framework/header.scss
@@ -114,12 +114,6 @@ header {
       &.active a {
         font-weight: bold;
       }
-
-      &:hover {
-        .badge {
-          background-color: $white-light;
-        }
-      }
     }
   }
 
@@ -132,7 +126,11 @@ header {
 
     &:hover {
       background-color: $white-normal;
-      color: $gl-header-nav-hover-color;
+    }
+
+    &:focus {
+      outline: none;
+      background-color: $white-normal;
     }
   }
 
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/nav/_dashboard.html.haml b/app/views/layouts/nav/_dashboard.html.haml
index bb611d39be549536caaabe39bf2560205c282fdb..5d4178f03d71310cc3045e17b1c2df057866cdfe 100644
--- a/app/views/layouts/nav/_dashboard.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/layouts/nav/_dashboard.html.haml
@@ -24,12 +24,12 @@
     = link_to assigned_issues_dashboard_path, title: 'Issues', class: 'dashboard-shortcuts-issues' do
       %span
         Issues
-        %span.badge= number_with_delimiter(cached_assigned_issuables_count(current_user, :issues, :opened))
+        (#{number_with_delimiter(cached_assigned_issuables_count(current_user, :issues, :opened))})
   = nav_link(path: 'dashboard#merge_requests') do
     = link_to assigned_mrs_dashboard_path, title: 'Merge Requests', class: 'dashboard-shortcuts-merge_requests' do
       %span
         Merge Requests
-        %span.badge= number_with_delimiter(cached_assigned_issuables_count(current_user, :merge_requests, :opened))
+        (#{number_with_delimiter(cached_assigned_issuables_count(current_user, :merge_requests, :opened))})
   = nav_link(controller: 'dashboard/snippets') do
     = link_to dashboard_snippets_path, title: 'Snippets' do
       %span