A remote worker went on TikTok to praise her new job’s policy that requires all employees to set their Slack status as inactive. She even goes on to say that it’s a policy she feels “should be the norm for remote work environments.”
Creator Jen (@happiertoday_) uploaded the video to TikTok one day ago. As of this writing, it has received more than 81,000 views.
“I started a new job yesterday,” she begins. “And I feel like whenever you start a new job, you never really know what you’re really getting yourself into…The recruiters and hiring managers and the interviewers can say one thing, but real lived-out culture and workplace environment can be very different.”
@happiertoday_ remote work policies for anxious people 🙏🏼 #newjob #anxiety #remotework ♬ original sound – Jen
“But I found out something yesterday that was just like the biggest green flag and makes me super excited,” Jen continues. “Everyone specifically sets their Slack status to inactive. It’s a requirement. It’s like ask everyone to make sure that you’re always set as inactive and it’s to remove the pressure and stress of feeling like you need to be green all the time — like you can’t step away from your desk, like you need to be working when your manager’s not.”
“So it made me super excited and I feel like it should be the norm for remote work environments,” she adds finally.
Her accompanying caption calls this Slack status policy an example of “remote work policies for anxious people.”
Viewers had a lot of opinions that they expressed in the comments.
“I love that!” one person exclaimed. “I feel self-conscious about even going to the restroom sometimes.”
Another remarked, “It’s so refreshing working for a company w/ healthy culture. I just started a new remote job & it’s such a surreal feeling not having work anxiety.”
“I started putting myself on do not disturb for the entire work day,” confided another. “Absolutely a game changer. It’s amazing how people respect your time.”
However, not all users were as lucky as Jen. One person lamented, “Crying over here as I have my iPad with Teams always open & auto-off turned off.”
That led the creator to advise, “Just put yourself in a teams call all day — keeps your status as online.”
One commenter reported on their own workplace’s less healthy Slack status policy. “We always got yelled at if we were not green,” they said. “I’d go busy if I didn’t want to be disrupted and I got written up.”
“Meanwhile, my work said have your status on or be fired,” another commenter complained. “And they’d follow up if you weren’t available.”
The creator responded, “Your new motto is ‘make it through the recession.’”
While most of the comments seemed to agree on the advantages of such a practice, one person didn’t appear to see the benefit of keeping their Slack status as inactive all day. “Then why have Slack?” they asked.
But almost everyone who came into the comments section thought this was an outstanding policy that kept employee mental health a priority.
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.
