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.

Start “smoking” then 😉

Regular short breaks are encouraged but I would expect people to be able to go to the loo and make a coffee in less than 5 minutes

I’m not sure what you are on about, « the modern office workplace ». 20y ago, in a physical office, if someone was going away several times a day for 30min, wouldn’t the manager have said
something?
We have way more flexibility today, even with managers checking Teams statuses.

Talk with your manager. If you want to take regular breaks rather than one big one, let your manager know - perfectly reasonable and healthy agreement to have.

Yes, some are micro managers, but some just want better quality work. If you are producing quality, timely work and responding/meeting reasonably promptly, your manager will not need to look to see where you are at and have bring this up with you.

As demonstrated by some posts on this thread, some people who WFH take the piss. For me, it’s a real privilege based on trust to work from home. My quality of life is incomparable compared to when I commuted every day. Now that I have kids, I really could not manage my school pick ups or afford the commute, so I really don’t want to give home working a bad rap - and I expect this from my team too.

Yes, most companies encourage them for DSE users (and if they're not, they should be)!
As other posters have said, you can be focusing on a task and have it 'non active' - much better for productivity.

I’m guessing you’re away from your desk for a lot longer than you think. A laundry takes 10-15 minutes of attention by the time you’ve hung it out/gathered it in, playing with a dog can be 5 minutes but 3-4 times a day, running the vacuum cleaner round is 10-15 mins especially if you have to do the stairs, getting a coffee, making a sandwich, etc. These micro breaks can add up very quickly.

I don’t see why a manager would care as long as work was getting done. A weird compulsion to exercise petty control over people does not a good manager make!

Just say your back hurts, ask for a DSE assessment and I’d be surprised if the assessor didn’t recommend that you get up from your desk for 5 mins every hour. Every DSE assessment I’ve ever had has said to make sure to move about regularly.

The biggest person for having a yellow dot on my work teams - is my manager! She's bloody amazing though and yes, she'll duck out to walk the dog for a quick break or whatever - but she works stupidly late into the night sometimes and it all balances out in the end. Likewise, I'm usually the first to sign off on a night - but I'm also the first to sign in on a morning so again - it balances out and no one takes the piss with it all.

At the moment I've got a raging sciatica flare up so I'm making sure to wander around the house periodically to keep mobile (and as comfy as possible) so I'm probably orange dotting like mad - but since my team works out doing community healthcare visits - our statuses flip between red orange and green more often than a set of traffic lights and no one really expects instant replies to messages.

Sorry, but as a manager I wouldn’t like this either. If you’re orange/away on teams all the time it means I wouldn’t be able to contact you. You can go to the loo/make a coffee without it turning orange (I do all the time).

explain how ? I was on a call ( mobile phone for 9 mins ) this morning and my status went orange for half of that - i was still working!!!!
just because you are orange doesn't mean you are not at your desk or not working

I’m not saying it is right or wrong, just that it has always been the case, nothing to do with remote working or modern workplace.

my opinion on this as a manager is that if you are productive, contactable and provide regular updates I do not care how “on line” you appear, if you are more productive from home, I would support wfh, if less then it’s harder to manage.

is your performance consistent

I am offline all the time on teams but respond quickly if messaged, My manager never questions it because she knows all the work gets done usually ahead of deadlines,

Friend uses a fan which jiggles the mouse to go to the loo.

H&S. came to our offices told us to stand up every hour and walk around.
.

Also a manager and also agree. I'm tired of not being able to get on with a task because someone has gone to do the school run or walk the dog when I need to speak to them. It doesnt matter if they make up that time later - they werent there during the hours the company pays them to be and when their colleagues expect them to be.

In my team if anyone was so quiet that they had time to go to the gym or run errands I'd be questioning if we really needed their role.

WFH is a privilege that not everyone is able to take advantage of and I'm tired of people taking the piss - it absolutely is the reason companies want their employees back in the office.

In many jobs you use the toilet and get a drink during your clearly set out breaks lol. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a WFH flexible job.

I'd be saying "I will try to not take breaks, but it seems to be in breach of H and S advice and I fear my back will seize up". Then phone in sick a week later, blaming your bad back.

I agree about some people abusing wfh. The answer is deal with them, be a manager and not just tar everyone with the same brush.

In the case of the OP the back condition seems something that what the OP has been doing is a reasonable adjustment. Perhaps need OH support for this.

So glad my company and manager are not archaic. Just because I can do my errands and do the school run does not mean my role is not needed.

My company can't have everyone back even if they wanted to - not enough space.

Undetectable mouse jiggler:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Meatanty-Undetectable-Automatic-Frequency-Adjustable-Black/dp/B0B1MC3XKS

I actually have it from the other end- i cant get a hold of my manager half the time as he is busy or in meetings. I often cant get my tasks done - i often remember before covid and WFH( and i sat in front of him at my desk) waiting for him to come back so i get things signed off etc- he would be in other buildings at meetings etc, often not finishing at time. Thank god now with teams messenger docu sign etc - i no longer waiting as long. If i message him for something that i need for a task it could be still half an hour or so before he could get back to me, so i have to lump it and wait. Its the same for most of my colleagues, i don't expect instant responses from people as most people busy and no they will come back to me soon enough. i get on with other things i have to do . I am very lucky he is very flexible and allows me to pope out for messages or docs appointment etc ( he does the same too). Its not taking the piss, its understanding that people have lives, that sometimes things happen to interrupt them and trusting them to do their work like adults.

I apologise for use of the word ‘modern’.

This is why I block out time in my diary, so I’m always on red.
Your boss is BU. You are an adult and if there’s no issue with your productivity then you should be trusted to be the master of your time fgs xx

In my last office job my boss was like this too. You just can't always expect to get hold of someone the moment you need them.

I also had a boss once who used to, long before the pandemic, 'work from home' every Friday. She would regularly phone me and say things like, 'I won't be available until about midday because I'm going to get my hair cut/going to the gym/taking the kids swimming' etc.
I therefore didn't feel too bad if I took the occasional slightly long lunch break or left a little early!