Outlook will tell you who is in the office

Sneaking in a work from home day could soon be a bit trickier thanks to a new update coming to Microsoft Outlook.

The email provider is rolling out a new feature that will allow users to spot which of their co-workers or colleagues is currently in the office, and therefore possibly free for a quick meeting or able to reply to a message.

The update will use the Work Hours and Location information stored within Outlook to offer up this information, meaning there may be some awkward conversations if your colleagues believe you to be in the office.

In its entry in the Microsoft 365 roadmap, the company notes that the feature will be “always on”, meaning there may be no getting around what it represents as your office presence.

  • king_tronzington@lemm.eeEnglish
    2·
    2 months ago

    Wouldn’t your coworkers already know you’re working from home by, you know not seeing you at the office?

    • afk_strats@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      2 months ago

      When I worked in an office, most of my team was in other offices across the world. But we had to be in the office for that TEAM BUILDING

        • FordBeeblebrox@lemmy.worldEnglish
          2·
          2 months ago

          Even if the whole team is actually in the conference room…it’s one dude with a laptop who struggles to get the display working for 10 min then proceeds to just read the PowerPoint out loud.

          None of this required me putting on pants or being part of traffic.

        • imPastaSyndrome@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Yup.

          Daily stand-up meeting

          On the phone because we’re decentralized

          Everyone’s actually sitting + hardly anyone’s even paying attention because they’re at their computers

        • SlopppyEngineer@lemmy.worldEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          Even worse, it’s completely real. It was the common situation for me before corona. Also driving an entire day for a 1 hour meeting.

    • PerogiBoi@lemmy.caEnglish
      1·
      2 months ago

      If your company is nationwide and has offices all over the country and you work on a distributed team where some people are on the west coast, some are central, and some are on the east coast. In this such event, none of your teammates will physically be able to tell if you are in the office. That’s what this feature is for.

      So we can all continue to work from home, from a prescribed office of our employers choosing.

        • Fester@lemm.eeEnglish
          1·
          2 months ago

          We’re concerned that your home doesn’t look soul crushing enough. Please upgrade your home office by installing fluorescent tube lights and covering your walls with rough faded blue grey cloth, or we’ll need you to come into the office.