Microsoft Teams is facing fresh scrutiny after a new feature designed to improve workplace visibility sparked concerns about employee privacy and data use in the modern office.
The update allows Microsoft Teams to detect activity on a user’s device even when they are not actively using the Teams tab. Microsoft says the feature is intended to address common complaints about inaccurate presence status and help colleagues better understand each other’s availability.
As hybrid work becomes a permanent part of corporate life, tools that provide greater visibility into employee availability are becoming more common. However, privacy experts warn that the way organizations use that information may be just as important as the technology itself.
How Microsoft’s New Teams Feature Works
Microsoft Teams already uses presence indicators to show whether someone is available, busy, away or offline. The latest update expands how that status is determined.
When enabled, Teams can recognize activity taking place outside the Teams web application. This means employees working in another browser tab, reviewing documents or using other applications may continue to appear active instead of being incorrectly marked as away.
The company says the change improves collaboration visibility by providing a more accurate picture of employee availability. Users will also see a setting called “Keep my current status when I’m active outside of Teams on the web,” giving them some control over how their status is displayed.
Organizations can decide whether the feature is enabled across their workplace, making internal policies and communication an important part of its rollout.
Why Privacy Experts Are Paying Attention
The strongest concerns surrounding the update focus on how activity data could potentially be used after it is collected.
Alex Baird, a security software expert at the University of Auckland, told RNZ’s Checkpoint that organizations should be thoughtful about why information is collected and ensure it is only used for its intended purpose.
According to Baird, data gathered to help colleagues understand availability serves a different purpose from data used to evaluate employee performance. While collaboration-focused visibility may be reasonable, using the same information for performance tracking could create entirely different privacy implications.
That distinction reflects a broader challenge facing employers worldwide. As workplace software becomes more sophisticated, companies must balance productivity goals with employee trust and privacy expectations.
The Hybrid Work Challenge
The debate comes at a time when businesses are trying to manage increasingly flexible work arrangements.
In traditional offices, managers could often determine whether someone was available simply by looking around the workplace. Hybrid and remote work environments have removed that visibility, leading companies to rely more heavily on digital indicators.
For many organizations, accurate presence information can improve scheduling, reduce communication delays and help teams collaborate more efficiently. Managers may need to know whether an employee is working remotely, sitting in the office or available for a quick discussion.
However, privacy advocates argue that visibility for managers does not necessarily mean every employee across an organization should have access to the same information.
The Opt-Out Issue
Microsoft provides employees with the ability to adjust settings related to the feature, which privacy experts generally view as a positive step.
However, Baird noted that if organizations enable the feature across an entire workforce, individual employees may need to manually review and change their settings. In practice, many users never explore advanced configuration menus inside workplace software.
That creates the possibility that employees could be sharing more presence information than they realize.
Experts say employers introducing the feature should clearly explain what information is being collected, who can access it and whether the data will play any role in performance reviews or workplace assessments.
An Extension Of Existing Presence Tracking
Baird described the feature as an extension of Teams’ existing active-status functionality rather than a completely new employee monitoring system.
That distinction is important because Microsoft has positioned the update as a collaboration enhancement rather than a surveillance tool. Even so, expanding the signals that determine employee availability inevitably raises questions about workplace transparency and trust.
As organizations become increasingly dependent on Microsoft’s workplace ecosystem, even minor platform changes attract attention. That reliance was highlighted during a recent Microsoft 365 outage affecting Outlook, Azure and Teams, which disrupted communication and productivity tools used by businesses around the world.
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For employees, the most practical step is to review Teams settings and understand how presence information is displayed within their organization. For employers, clear communication and defined policies may ultimately determine whether the feature is viewed as a collaboration tool or a workplace monitoring system.
Additional information about Teams presence settings and account controls is available through the Microsoft Support Center.
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