To ask, if you work remotely/from home do you worry about your Teams status going yellow/'Away'

[88tthh]

I've recently started a work from home job and I get quite anxious about my Teams status going to the yellow 'Away' status, as I worry I'll get picked up on it or people will think I'm taking excessive breaks from my laptop.

For example, yesterday my status went to Away a couple of times when I went to the loo, and when I went and made a coffee. I get stressed and try and rush back to my laptop, as 5 minutes goes by so quickly. I know if I was in the office I definitely wouldn't be panicking about the amount or duration of toilet breaks, for example, yet at home I do. I also time my lunch hour down to the minute to make sure I'm back at my desk after exactly an hour (or sometimes less).

I follow some influencers online who have similar work from home jobs and I see them pottering around putting washes on and even taking quick showers during the work day, yet also spending their lunch hour at 1-hour exercise classes (so they're not doing these things during their lunch breaks). I guess the normal is probably somewhere between their approach and my approach.

Would you feel better if you set it to ‘busy’ when leaving the computer for a bit? I don’t think this is anything you should worry about. You should be taking regular screen breaks anyway as per HSE guidelines.

Genuinely never crosses my mind. And I have long gaps not sat at my computer

I just leave mine offline I hate it

Pro tip:

A concave mirror (the type that gives you a close up for eyebrow shaping etc) placed under your mouse bounces the mouse light around and keeps the screen awake.

Takes a bit of trial and error to get the right angle, but it works a treat.....

If you set to busy it will still go yellow if you’re away.
I wouldn’t worry about it OP. I don’t monitor the people that report in to me and their TEAMS status, I go by their output - quality of work and are they hitting their deadlines. Quite often they will tell me they need to pop out in the afternoon or whatever to run an errand and I tell them not to worry about telling me… just do it!

Never thought about it. I don’t think anybody else does where I work either.

I have a jiggler

It has never occurred to me to worry about this.

As in red? Doesn't that also go yellow if you're not clicking?

Yes OP I worry about this even though its daft. Part of my job is to read long documents so if I'm pondering over a wording it can often go to yellow. I click just so it shows I'm working even though I'm AT MY DESK WORKING!!!

Nobody cares, but you can change time it takes to turn yellow.
https://www.process.st/how-to/change-microsoft-teams-away-time/#:~:text=Select%20%E2%80%9CSettings%E2%80%9D%20and%20the%20%E2%80%9C,5%20minutes%20to%206%20hours.

@Lazykitten I've noticed that mine also goes away when I don't open/response to teams messages. Which I don't do when I'm neck deep in actual work rather than pinging away!

I don't think about this at all to be honest. Do none of your tasks take place outside of teams? I'll regularly set my teams status to do not disturb for a period of time so I don't get notifications while, say, preparing a report for the board or training materials.

I've changed the teams setting so it doesn't change to away and changed Skype to the maximum time capacity before it does.

Teams
Select “Settings” from the dropdown menu. In the left-hand column, click on “Privacy”. Here, you can manage your status and activity. To stop Teams from changing your status to away, turn off the switch for “Show me as away when inactive.” Your status will remain active and available.

Yes, I worry about it, if I’m working in systems outside Teams it goes orange even though I’m working.
I have no idea if anyone else even notices it, but it does bother me.

Subject to the type of job you do, you could start a new call with just you in it. Then the status will be "in a call" until you disconnect

Nope never worry and am too busy to be looking at whether my team are showing as away unless I need one of them!

I used to use a mouse mover plugged into a different USB than the computer.

Nobody cares in my job but if it really bothers you then open a word doc and put something heavy on your key board.

Or what I was told (from a very senior person) is to ring your mobile from teams and then you're on a call 😂

I work in research and no one cares if you’re pottering or away from your computer. But if you’re in a job where they’re counting your clicks or mouse movement then maybe it’s a problem?
I waste more time when I’m in the office chatting about crap all day with my colleagues. We have to actually set timers and agree not to talk for chunks of time so we get some work done.

Get yourself a mouse that jiggles if it worries you. But I’d be more concerned about the productivity of someone who had time to monitor other people’s Teams status than about anyone having the temerity to leave their desk every now and again.

This will entirely depend on your company. Mine would not care in the slightest, so long as you get the job done. Very relaxed about a parent popping out to do a school run, or taking an hour out for something personal and catching up in the evening. At the other end of the extreme "call centre" style work will usually be monitoring you closely. So, I don't think anyone else can tell you!

Mine goes yellow after five minutes idling, after 10 minutes my laptop automatically locks.

It doesn't bother me, my manager is not stupid, she knows I have a break now and then for the toilet or to make a cup of coffee etc.

Amazon sell mouse movers if you're that paranoid.

I work for local government and the supervisors in my new dep't absolutely monitor our status on skype. Fine if you show away for 5 mins couple of times a day but if it's a regular occurrence for longer you'd get pulled up. They monitor the work we have completed as well on enterprise and the emails sent etc as a way of monitoring productivity as well.

Download wigglemouse. It'll "move" your mouse at set intervals to stop it showing you as 'away'.

“Meet now” is your friend. Start a meeting with yourself and it will show you as in a call and won’t go yellow.

I worry even though o know it’s mad because when I am physically in work I am away from my desk loads in meetings and people go to the loo or to get lunch or coffee and that’s totally fine but for some reason when you wfh you get panicked going to grab a drink - makes no sense but I’m the same

Do this! It doesn’t worry me though, my work isn’t based on being constantly available.