Pulled up on my teams light

[outlanderish]

I work from home full time with occasional travel. My employer allows either a half hour or one hour lunch break, based on personal choice. I typically don’t take a formal break instead, I take brief pauses throughout the day (e.g. five minutes here and there to make a coffee, play with my dog, or put a load of laundry on), while otherwise remaining at my desk and working.

Recently, my manager called me to ask why I appear “orange” (away) a lot during the day. I explained that I take small, informal breaks rather than a long formal one. She told me this was unacceptable, even though my approach has not negatively impacted my productivity. In fact, I’m often more efficient this way. I also need to get up regularly as it hurts my back sitting for a long period of time

Other colleagues especially smokers also step away from their desks regularly, but it seems to be accepted for them.

If your contract says you need to have your break in a block of half hour or an hour, that's what you need to do. It's not really your place to decide whether it makes a difference or not. The people paying for your time decide how they want you to spend it. If you need regular breaks from your work station due to a back problem then you need to request the change to your work day to allow for this. Send an email requesting to have several 5/10 minute breaks equalling the 30/60 minutes. I doubt very much they would refuse you if you link it to a health condition.

If you were in the office you would be able to leave your desk to go to the loo / make a cup of tea / speak to a colleague. You would also get a lunch break too. However, such breaks wouldn’t result in you being away from your desk for large parts of the day. Only you know whether your work habits are reasonable.

Why? Sitting down for hours on end is unhealthy. It is much better to take short breaks.

If her productivity is fine why does it matter?

Mouse jiggler! Life changing

Most people get up from their desk at home to make coffee/ use the toilet etc as they would in the office. Are you doing anything differently to make this noticeable to your manager?

Ask your ineffective manager to explain why more frequent, smaller breaks are not acceptable. Until you know why then you can't address the issue. Does your contract state what your breaks are?

I can't believe the number of people who support mouse jigglers. I'd never even heard of them before reading about them on MN. I'm so glad I don't feel I need to deceive my manager about the work I'm doing. That can't be a healthy way to work.

As a manager though, once you think someone is taking the Mickey you do keep looking

That's reasonable, @TorroFerney, and it's the sort of monitoring that posters always insist managers should be doing, as in "If there's a problem it's their job to address it"

Until the monitoring reveals something unwelcome that is, at which point it'll be said they're micromanaging

As it happens I'm a big supporter of WFH where it can be made to work, but with so many feeling entitled to take the piss it's not hard to see why companies are insisting on a return to the office

Typo

This.
Your boss is a boring jobsworth. I literally never check my direct report’s Teams status!

I am having flashbacks to my very old office days where they stopped us making drinks for other staff members ie your mates. No one was left out, everyone had friends you just made 1 or 2 extra drinks whilst you were making yours.

What resulted was an endless stream of us making a point drink and the kettle constantly going in the office, we had no break room so it was on top of the fridge and right by the micromanager's desk.

If you were in an office you would be making drinks, going to the toilet and probably getting up from your desk for other things so would be away from your desk. This micromanaging which does not result from your work production going down is ridiculous. I would be asking what rules cover the smokers. Refer to your last performance review too.

Rest it on the trackpad of your laptop. Doesn't do anything to a normal mouse, but the concave mirror does!

I've just looked at my Teams and turns out you can be notified when someone goes gree or offline so she may have turned this on for you...so I'd tread carefully.

My organisation are really going after people who use mouse jigglers so I'd be careful of that. Can you keep returning to your desk during breaks to remain on free/red?

God don’t do this. I.T can track these and we are currently monitoring someone we suspect is using one.
You are meant to take a break every six hours. Most people working from home prefer to take a 20 min lunch break and then smaller five/ten min breaks. We aren’t allowed to do this, we have to take 30 mins minimum in one go.
Can your work be monitored? Mine can’t, I’m just trusted to get on with it and not take the piss.

I think this very much depends on the nature of your job. On one end if you are doing call centre work then having people wandering off when they feel like it is a real problem. At the other end if you are an individual contributor that works on long term projects that don’t require responsiveness to questions and you’re deemed a high performer that is another.

In job I might often look “away” but I might be reviewing or working on hard copy papers, being in in person meetings, on the phone so working not having breaks (not Teams).

On a practical level I would try and understand what exactly you think the underlying concern is. Does senior management have a bee in their bonnet about people who WFH and you’re caught up in this? Are there management concerns about your performance? Might they be looking to push people out who don’t fit a mould? Are they looking for excuses for office returns? What the underlying point is will help drive the best response.

People like you are part of the reason that so many people believe people who WFH take the piss.

Tell them you've taken up smoking!

I also need to get up regularly as it hurts my back sitting for a long period of time

Get your manager to do you an Occupational Health referral to get it formalised as a Reasonable Adjustment that you need to get up and move around regularly (or pay for you to have a sit/stand desk at home).

And get a mouse jiggler.

If it is actually 5 minutes break here and there, which should be perfectly acceptable, change the time on teams for your symbol going to away. If it’s longer than 5 mins each time then this probably isn’t as acceptable and your manager has a point.

Anybody should be able to get up for a five minute stretch after an hour of sitting without having to go through OH or getting a reasonable adjustment.

Are you getting your work done?? It seems to my like your manager doesn’t have enough to do!

My employer recommends a few minutes here and there- get up, stretch, eyes off the screen etc.

it’s in our H&s workspace assessment every year.

i try and make sure I get up and walk to the loo and back at least once an hour.

if they don’t allow it they could be in trouble when/if employees start reporting eyesight and back/skeletal issues.

Do you have skills that are in demand? If so you could leverage that to get them to back off.

I would have a conversation with your manager explaining that you are concerned that you are not being trusted to manage your own time and that the level of micromanagement that you are experiencing is not allowing you to do your job to the best of your ability.

Assuming that your output is satisfactory and that you aren't in a call centre type role, I wouldn't accept this without a degree of pushback.

Get a proper office chair. If yours is hurting your back it is not suitable for homeworking.

It depends on the job. If you being away from your desk in normal working hours means others have to pick up the slack then yes you are being unreasonable.

If that’s not the case then sh is micromanaging to cover up her own issues.

Teams changes to orange after 5 minutes so keep your 5 minute breaks just under 5 min and you’ll be fine.

How this works depends on how your job is structured. If you’re fairly autonomous and your whole day isn’t structured and anything you’re working on may result in an ad hoc call in or out, when you need a break, start a “meet now” but don’t invite anyone else. Your teams status will show red, that you’re in a call. But the real issue is your boss’s ineffectiveness