There can be various reasons for employees’ anxiety when using the Teams status, especially the “Absent” status:
- Fear of negative perception: Employees may fear that the status “absent” will be interpreted as a lack of commitment or low morale. In work cultures where constant availability is expected, setting an absence status can cause insecurity or anxiety.
- Concern about career progression: Some may think that frequent absences could affect their chances of promotion or special projects. This can be particularly noticeable in performance-oriented environments.
- Corporate culture pressure: In companies where there is a culture of “always being available”, absentee status could be seen as a sign of unreliability or lack of dedication. This pressure can have a negative impact on the use of such status messages.
- Avoid misinterpretation: Employees may be hesitant to use the “away” status for fear that coworkers or supervisors may misinterpret it, especially if the absence is needed for legitimate work tasks such as outside appointments or creative work.
- Lack of clarity about expectations: If there are no clear guidelines on how and when to use out-of-office status, employees may be unsure if and when it is appropriate to mark themselves as absent.
- Fear of overwork upon return: Some fear that their workload will increase during their absence and that they will be confronted with overwork upon their return. This can lead to reluctance to use the absence status so as not to fall behind with work requirements.
To alleviate these fears, companies can promote an open and supportive culture where clear guidelines and expectations regarding availability and absence are communicated. In addition, promoting an understanding approach to breaks and absences can help to increase the well-being and productivity of employees.
What helps against this fear in the home office?
The issue of status in teams is more widespread than you might think. The Status Holder, which conceals the actual online time, provides a remedy here. Status Holder is a software specially developed to manage online presence on communication platforms such as Microsoft Teams, Skype, Slack and others. It allows users to permanently set their online status to “Available” in order to conceal their actual online times. This can help to avoid monitoring by employers and increase the user’s privacy.
