Microsoft Teams will soon roll out a new feature that automatically detects when employees are connected to their organisation’s Wi-Fi, updating their work location in the app. The move, reported by several media outlets, has triggered debate over workplace privacy and the future of remote work.
According to Microsoft’s official roadmap, the update will begin rolling out in December 2025 and will allow Teams to automatically mark when a user is “in office” based on Wi-Fi connection data. The company said the feature is intended to reduce confusion about who is working where in hybrid teams.
“When users connect to their organisation’s Wi-Fi, Teams will soon be able to automatically update their work location to reflect the building they’re working from. This feature will be off by default,” Microsoft said in its product note.
The update will be available on both Windows and macOS systems. Microsoft added that administrators will have to enable the feature, and users will be required to opt in before location data can be shared.
While the company described the change as a convenience for hybrid work coordination, critics have called it another form of digital surveillance. The feature, they argue, could give employers a tool to monitor attendance or enforce office-presence policies under the guise of efficiency.
Social media users expressed unease about the update, with some calling it an example of “more technology, less trust.” Others joked that Teams was turning into an attendance-tracking app, questioning whether monitoring presence should matter in remote roles.
Microsoft has maintained that the feature is optional and designed to improve transparency, not policing. However, its release comes amid growing scrutiny of workplace monitoring tools that emerged during the pandemic as remote work became mainstream.
The rollout underscores a broader trend among technology providers to balance productivity visibility with privacy. As hybrid work models evolve, such tools may test how much oversight employees are willing to accept in exchange for flexibility.