Since the pandemic spurred a rise in remote work, many employees working from home have had a singular mission: stay green on Teams.
For context, Microsoft Teams is a program used by many companies to keep in touch and collaborate with employees. Not being green on Teams means that you’re away from the program—and potentially signals to your company that you’re not working.
Numerous hacks have been invented to stay in the green. Users on TikTok have suggested everything from mouse jigglers to making fake PowerPoint presentations to tying your mouse to a vacuum cleaner, all in the name of keeping that Teams status icon green.
Now, another user has sparked discussion after sharing their “stay green” hack.
@ggivau POWER NAP NEEDED, do you know a better way? 😴💻 #msteams #teams #windows #workfromhome #powernap #workingathome #fyp #foryoupage #lazy #work #office ♬ Teams Beat – Microsoft 365
In a video with over 1.6 million views, TikTok user Giovanni (@ggivau) details his method for staying green on Teams while taking a nap.
According to Giovanni, in order to stay green, one can simply open up a blank Word document and depress a single key on the keyboard. Giovanni does this by wedging a cork between his laptop’s screen and keyboard.
So long as the key is depressed, it will keep typing into the Word document—and, according to Giovanni, keep your status green.
While some users offered their own suggestions for staying green (play a YouTube video, always setting your status to ‘away,’ etc.), many users spoke out against employers who use Teams to constantly monitor employees.
“Or work for a less toxic company who don’t monitor your availability so closely,” suggested one user.
“Companies that track online status are huge [red flag emoji],” said another.
Online, criticism against Teams is harsh. Many have accused the software of being a poor indicator of actual online status. Others noted that, if a boss uses the tools provided by Teams to constantly monitor one’s status, they may be suffering from a toxic work environment.
Back on TikTok, a few users voiced their opinion that the proliferation of Teams “hacks” may have contributed to employers’ desires to bring workers back into the office.
“And we wonder why remote jobs are disappearing,” wrote a commenter.
“These posts are why my last boss wouldn’t let us continue to WFH,” echoed a second.
The Daily Dot reached out to Giovanni via TikTok comment.
