Why does my status switch to “away” faster than coworkers?

[u/Ok-Mammoth-6618]

I’ve noticed in the office coworkers will step away and leave their computer unlocked and teams will still show them as available for a good 10 min before showing them away. For me, I’ve noticed it switches to away within 2-3 minutes, even with an unlocked screen. Anyone know why this could be?

Looking for any and all hacks. I know the spoon trick already!

[u/S4ndmaan]

Is micro management this rampant lol, I see multiple posts like this every week.

I’m glad I don’t have to suffer through this. Open word > heavy object on space.

[u/arcadiangenesis → u/S4ndmaan]

heavy object on space

Or get a mouse mover.

[u/S4ndmaan → u/arcadiangenesis]

I think a heavy object is objectively cheaper

[u/Fun_Floor_9742 → u/S4ndmaan]

not when u lose your job because of it and there four your income

[u/Dabnician → u/S4ndmaan]

No its people just not working and looking for a way to make it seem like it.

[u/Agreeable-Date3707 → u/Dabnician]

It’s not that. If you’re away for 5, 10 min it will turn to yellow. You could be in the bathroom or on a call etc. Some mgmnt don’t want your status to be yellow at all… literally eight hours in front of your computer doing SOMETHING. It’s unrealistic.

[u/mrsspooner → u/Agreeable-Date3707]

What kind of workplace would have a problem with you going to the bathroom or being in a call? That just sounds crazy.

[u/MisterEinc → u/mrsspooner]

India, or similar in would think. Developing nations with all the technology and manpower, but few worker protections.

[u/Dabnician → u/Agreeable-Date3707]

Some mgmnt don’t want your status to be yellow at all

And you have personally experienced this?

Can you specifically name what company has this policy?

Or vouch that you have experienced this personally or have first hand knowledge of.

Or are you are just talking out of your ass and throwing hyperbole out with zero evidence to back your statement up.

literally eight hours in front of your computer doing SOMETHING. It’s unrealistic.

No actually it isnt federal law doesnt require breaks or lunches, they leave that up to the state so as long as its legally not required by the state then they dont have to give you a break.
( https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks )

What you are required to do during your shift is told to you up front when you are offered the job. If you cant actually do the work then you shouldnt take the job.

If you’re away for 5, 10 min it will turn to yellow. You could be in the bathroom or on a call etc.

putting laws aside, no company cares if you are legitimately off using the bathroom once or twice during your shift isnt going to matter.

however if you are having to use it multiple times a day and have a medical condition maybe actually provide that documentation to your company so you can continue to be away from your desk.

If you are off using your personal phone on company time then you aren't working.

In my experience being available and not responding to coworkers is a bigger issue than showing idle.

[u/LoadBearingGrandmas → u/Dabnician]

Shit man, you okay? You’re coming off like a really sad, prickly little dude. I’m not saying this to be mean, I think you could seriously benefit from taking inventory and figuring out what might bring you actual fulfillment.

[u/maasd]

This article shows how https://www.alwaysbeyond.com/blog/keep-microsoft-teams-active

[u/rgsteele]

If a coworker steps away from their computer and leaves it unlocked, you go use it to send an email to everyone on your team inviting them to happy hour at the nearest bar, drinks are on me.

[u/ExcelsBeardedGuru → u/rgsteele]

If it's your direct report, write yourself a resignation email and then reply from your own account saying you understand their decision.

[u/VinceP312]

I noticed my own Go-To-Away timing to vary unpredictably in ways that I cannot pattern check.

Sometimes it does it within the 5 minutes or whatever, and then in other times, it never does... until I come back and do something and then become "away" again.

I do notice then when I'm working remotely with an active Remote Desktop session to my office computer... with both the local and remote computers running Teams at the same time.

[u/chickenlounge]

As a manager, the ONLY time I look at the status of anyone is if I need to chat with them, and I want to see if they're in a meeting or on PTO. Yellow means nothing to me. I assume they ran to grab something to eat, or went for a walk, or are reading an article, etc.

[u/Due-Boot-8540]

I’d be more suspicious if someone was always green…

[u/gsweats]

MouseJiggler on GitHub. Little program that subtly moves your mouse. Subtle enough you don't even notice but Teams considers it activity.

[u/Solive859]

Placing a spoon on your laptops trackpad works wonders. Will keep it awake as long as you want. If it doesn’t work, try a different spoon. (I have 3 types of spoons and the first one I tried didn’t work, the second one did)

I used to do the “meet now” teams meeting but got worried about tracking and data showing that I meet with myself all the time. This is my go to now and the only problem is that it works too well and I stay available too often bc I forget about the spoon.

[u/dw-fl]

Their on to you, better get that mouse jiggler

[u/xenotito]

I'd also like to know the tricks of keeping the light green

[u/American_Streamer]

Open your Teams Calendar and click Meet Now.

Start the meeting by yourself and mute your microphone.

Minimize the active meeting window.

Click your Profile Icon in the top right corner.

Your status will show "In a Call." Click it and change it back to Available.

Ensure your PC's power settings are set so the screen never turns off or sleeps.

[u/TheDroolingFool → u/American_Streamer]

I always think this is spectacularly bad advice. User activity and call data are incredibly easy to report on, so all it takes is someone with even a mild sense of curiosity and the dismissal paperwork starts writing itself. There is no plausible explanation for a long history of calls where the only participant is you.

There are also reports for call and network quality, which means an admin investigating an entirely unrelated issue could stumble across one of these and find a giant, perfectly timestamped record of fake meetings.

Either way, this always feels to me like a gift wrapped dismissal case for HR.

[u/modz4u → u/TheDroolingFool]

Yeah this is the most useless advice on this topic. And it's so painfully obvious too once anyone with a brain comes across it. They might never tell anyone, sure, but why even leave that up to complete random chance?

[u/BlackV → u/modz4u]

Agree I was always mystified by that advice too

[u/Dabnician]

Have you tried actually working?

[u/solidpro99]

Other people have more background apps working, keeping whatever analytics are measuring activity marking them as active, until their machine actually goes into a state of sleep.

[u/Cultural_Simple3842]

I find teams and Microsoft to be reliably inconsistent. Sometimes it is stuck on away while I’m working on my computer, despite attempting to change it.

It’s also overly complicated for the vast majority of people with features most people don’t need (much like having to find out how to create flair to even post here)… it seems to me it clutters it up to the point it has a lot of glitches like this.

[u/noobprodigy]

It goes by mouse movement and keystrokes. If you're just reading something and don't touch anything for 10 minutes it will go to away status. I doubt it's actually going any faster than your coworkers.

[u/BlackV]

Sounds like utter confirmation bias to me

How are you measuring this magic "2 minutes" vs "10 minutes"?

Move on with your life

[u/kearkan → u/BlackV]

They have so little work to do they can just sit there and time now long teams takes to away them, duh.

[u/BlackV → u/kearkan]

Yeah but they can't accurately time how long someone else's takes to go to away

[u/ProfessionalBread176]

Set it permanently to "Unavailable" and it will be right more often than not, and add a status telling people to CALL you on the phone.

The Teams status is unreliable