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Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

tomsguide.com

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Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#61

Post by grogers »

RoyTyrell wrote: post #58

Every recent employer I've had uses a VPN to get into their internal network when you're not logged into wifi or ethernet from inside a building, so I don't see this Teams change as a big deal. Must be something for small employers without much, if any, IT infrastructure or IT dept.

Hardware dongles (e.g. yubikeys) have replaced required VPN logins to access internal sites at my recent workplaces. If you access any internal sites or do basically anything on your corporate laptop, there's definitely the potential for creepy tracking...

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#62

Post by bluedino »

palmotea wrote: post #34
bluedino wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Managers couldn't get badge swipe access but they could get wifi data, so that's what they used to find out who was actually coming into work (people were swiping their badge and leaving, etc)

> Managers couldn't get badge swipe access but they could get wifi data... That seems really weird. Why? If managers can't get badge swipe data (or reporting based on it), are they doing some kind of weird solo RTO enforcement? And if they can't get badge-swipe, why could they get Wifi data?

Honestly probably because the badge system is ancient and there's some Windows 95 machine in a furnace room somewhere that nobody knows how to get the swipe info from, or they can't separate it by employee/department etc

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#64

Post by Nextgrid »

palmotea wrote: post #36
onionisafruit wrote: post #20

If you need software to figure out if somebody is in the office, then it isn’t important for them to be in the office. The supposed benefit of being in the office is because teams work better in person. If everybody else is at the office, it’s obvious who isn’t there.

> The supposed benefit of being in the office is because teams work better in person. If everybody else is at the office, it’s obvious who isn’t there. We're talking about corporate America here. They say "RTO because teams work better in person" while they simultaneously contradict themselves requiring distributed teams. What really matters is the leader is tall, looks important in suit, and makes the number go up (…

Not to mention having to make real estate numbers go up, which WFH threatens by distributing demand across a much larger area.

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#66

Post by d1sxeyes »

znpy wrote: post #35
Esophagus4 wrote: post #3

? I’m not sure who would really care about this feature. We can usually tell based on your background. And the people that have to be in office are tracked typically with badge swipes. And if you’re really that determined to work remote and your company doesn’t support it, wouldn’t it be better just to find a company that does rather than sneaking around?

> We can usually tell based on your background. Not really. Decent tele-conference platforms can automatically replace your background. I have a corporate-provided background in google meet, for example. > And the people that have to be in office are tracked typically with badge swipes. Often badges are just for automatic doors, not really connected to any real information / data collection system. Not all companies…

> Not all companies are data-collecting monsters

Plus, in the EU, it is unlikely to be legal to use badge-swipe data for attendance tracking (I think this is prevailing opinion rather than legally tested so far).

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#67

Post by Esophagus4 »

Gigachad wrote: post #37
Esophagus4 wrote: post #3

? I’m not sure who would really care about this feature. We can usually tell based on your background. And the people that have to be in office are tracked typically with badge swipes. And if you’re really that determined to work remote and your company doesn’t support it, wouldn’t it be better just to find a company that does rather than sneaking around?

The charitable interpretation is that this feature is just so your coworkers can tell if you are in the office so they know if they should go find you or have a call.

I think I believe this explanation. And that would imply that the author is either paranoid or trying to make a more salacious story.

My cynicism makes me think it’s the latter.

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#68

Post by ajdude »

Esophagus4 wrote: post #67
Gigachad wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The charitable interpretation is that this feature is just so your coworkers can tell if you are in the office so they know if they should go find you or have a call.

I think I believe this explanation. And that would imply that the author is either paranoid or trying to make a more salacious story. My cynicism makes me think it’s the latter.

There are an array of devices you can buy online that automatically jiggle the mouse cursor to prevent idling, because supervisors are using Microsoft teams to determine if someone is working.

Even if the charitable interpretation was Microsoft's intent, managers put a lot of weight behind the Team's status icon.

Re: Microsoft Teams will start tracking office attendance

#70

Post by RajT88 »

teeray wrote: post #56
caminante wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a paper trail for "just cause" to fire someone. Also shortens the leash on corp debt slaves. Edit: this is the "enterprise solution", whereas I agree you're right at the margins.

> This is a paper trail for "just cause" to fire someone. Just like surprise, low Speed Limit signs that provide probable cause to pull over whoever you like.

Exactly this. You can get pulled over for driving under the speed limit. Or over.
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