Opt-out of "Notify when available"
In the previous Skype for Business you had the option to "Tag for Status Updates" and Teams similarly implemented "Notify when available" in the spring of 2019. This has been a big ask for people, but at the same time, it's a feature which in my experience has been ripe for abuse at worst, and encouraging poor etiquette at best. If you've ever gotten 5 messages the moment you sat down and unlocked your PC in Skype for Business, you know what I'm talking about. This feature is also a privacy nightmare, and in environments where there are privacy concerns (as anyone who has had to work with a European Works Council can attest) this is problematic. I would propose the following two solutions:
- Be able to turn off at a tenant level, via Messaging Policy, "Notify when available"
- Allow users to silently opt out of notifying anyone, or selected individuals, who tagged them for availability
These should cover the main concerns with this feature.
Constantino Tobio
shared this idea
11 comments
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Anonymous
commented
Agreed... please have the above options added. Skype was way better at theses things.
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Anonymous
commented
Horrible practice that invades privacy as little as we have left and can only by countered by setting a permanent busy status.
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AndrePKI
commented
You can already set your own status to anything you like (liek Appear Away or Offline)
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Anonymous
commented
So what if people contact you when you're available! It's exactly the same as if you were in an office and come back to your desk. Maybe stop trying to avoid working or be happy that people value you enough to need your help. Welcome to the Digital working age.
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Hayden
commented
I think the notify when available is a good feature. Note that it can also be abused the other way.
I would consider it a poor use of their resources to add an opt-out option when users can just change their status to busy for example. -
Anonymous
commented
re-why no more comments: I think many people do not realise this option exists. My organisation has it turned off by default, so you have to dig into the settings to find it. All the more reason to make it customisable, since it increases the risk of people being targeted without being aware of the option in the first place.
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Anon
commented
I'm surprised there aren't more comments. Add my vote for this. I can neither manage a list of who can contact me (approve contacts) nor can I see/prevent who is stalking me at work. This is totally unacceptable.
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Anonymous
commented
At least make it known who has that set on you(provide a link to your “followers”/“fans”). This way, someone with ill intent may be less likely to do it. I don’t like being bombarded with messages as soon as my status goes green. Counterparts are reporting “snoops” monitoring when they log on and off daily.
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Gerald Lintz
commented
I wonder why there aren't many more votings and requests to make it possible to turn off this notification. It's like turning off the automatic read receipt function in Outlook.
It's a matter of forcing observation and monitoring of employees!
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Edwin Castillo
commented
If you allow people to opt out of notify when available, it defeats the purpose of the feature. I understand the etiquette concerns, but I think a better option would be to allow people to delay their status update change to a minute or two after the desktop environment is active; that way you don't get assaulted the second you come in to your desk, while at the same time automating your availability status after a reasonable period.
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Me
commented
Have any changes to Teams "Notify When Available" been made yet?