Microsoft Teams will now monitor who is actually working in the office. And the boss will be able to check it at any time

Lately, it seems like more companies are ditching remote work and getting people back into the office. This applies not only to smaller businesses but also to corporations like Microsoft. It's no surprise that apps are being updated to fit the current trends and make this kind of work easier. Microsoft Teams is getting a big update to make it easier to check if someone is in the office.

Microsoft Teams will check if you are in the office

In a statement, Microsoft said the changes will make it easier to work together and communicate. An example given was a situation where we want to check if someone is currently in the office or working from home. Monitoring will be carried out through Wi-Fi networks, but notably, this will be an optional feature. The company will have to decide whether to enable it, and users themselves will have to consent to it. The new feature is set to be implemented by the end of 2025.

However, there's definitely a lot of criticism online about doing that. For some people, it is another element of employee control by the employer. There are concerns that not wanting to be monitored might get someone fired. There are also calming and praising comments about such solutions.

In their comments, they point out that these kinds of network solutions aren't anything new, even from Microsoft's software. They also emphasize the "optionality" and full awareness of employees that such a feature has been enabled. And most importantly, this option just makes work easier and improves communication within companies using Teams.

• Microsoft
• labor
• tech