Since the rise of hybrid working, Microsoft Teams has become the centrepiece of the workplace tech stack. Most of us now communicate through Teams every day, especially when connecting with those in other locations.
It’s been a game-changer, but I’d still question whether we’ve quite ‘nailed’ the hybrid model yet. Communication can still feel clunky at times; it’s hard to know where co-workers are, what the most effective way of communicating is and when their location or work hours are flexing.
To create simplicity and iron out the glitches, Microsoft 365 are releasing a wave of features that’ll help.
Work hours and location (in Outlook)
The new working hours and location feature roll-out will enable users to select whether they’ll be in the office or working remotely. The user can also chop the workday into multiple slots, better reflecting the reality of flexible working.
Here at bzb IT, we’ll be encouraging all employees to utilise the new features as a good ‘housekeeping’ exercise. We hope this will improve transparency and awareness, ultimately being a simple way of encouraging communication and allowing for a quicker pace of delivery.
How to use the features
To set your work schedule, you’ll need to navigate into Outlook for web settings and select the following:
Here you’re able to select your working hours and location across the week. Once your selections are finalised, your colleagues will be able to see your availability in scheduling assistant. This will create an ease for booking meetings and ensuring the whole team is available and where they need to be.
In Microsoft Teams, their work hours will be shown in the profile card. Again, allowing team members to see when their coworkers are available at any given point.
Switching between work locations on Microsoft Teams is just as simple. The user will need to select and update the location from the drop-down shown in the profile.
The summary
The release of these features is hardly ground-breaking, but who doesn’t love some simple but effective improvements? I expect most workplaces will be using work hours and location setting fairly soon – if your business needs any support with this (and anything else for that matter), give us a call on 0330 058 2626 or drop us an email at hello@bzbit.co.uk today.
