Because working from home doesn't really mean you have to be in your house as long as you're working. Just like you don't have to actually eat on your lunch break. If you can't trust me then why am I still working for you?

I have never once had an issue with this.

Know why? Because I work with responsible adults. Once you start treating adults like little kids with no agency, you’re opening the floodgates for the control schemes which finally start to affect you personally.

What could your employer do that would overstep your personal boundaries? By handwaving this one away, you’re enabling them to cross your line later. You must see that, yes? It’s clear to everyone else.

You are not doing yourself any service, even if you think you’re just “sitting this one out.”

Two reasons:

1. The feature likely won't work as well as you might think. What happens when you leave for 10 minutes to get some lunch, and that's when your boss's boss checks your location and it says you're working from home or something. And now you get written up because you're supposed to be in the office three days per week. I get this is a specific and convoluted example, but stuff like this happens--a feature is released, and management is too stubborn to take things with a grain of salt (or they otherwise won't consider the limitations).

2. You're assuming they're only using your location data to update your in/out status. Neither MS nor your employer will ever be content to only use limited information when they have access to more. And while it would be somewhat limited if it were only on work devices, understand that a lot of employers expect people to install this shit on their personal devices (I was the only holdout in my department who wouldn't/couldn't install MS authenticator on my phone, it was a whole thing).

Then ask

Why do you want to know that? Haven't figured out how to work asymmetrically or put things into writing?

"Hey, are you in-office today?"

Been asked several times as a newer employee on a hybrid schedule.

Also gives them a polite heads-up to expect a visitor.

Yo, I was hoping to chat about fizzing buzzes today. You in the office; wanna grab coffee? If you prefer you can call or we can just chat on slack? Anyway I thought it would be best if we foo’d the bars in that order on project A.

Easy. No naked ping. No pressure. Question already in the open. No expectations. Will find out if able to meet in person. Will get an initial response.

check teams and see if someone's in the office because then you can go talk to them directly.

The fuck you do. You send them a message asking if they're in the office, and if you can come distract them for a minute about NNN.

Don't be the asshole who breaks people's concentration because your question is more important for you than their work

There it is. I was right. "Talk to them directly". That demonstrates a huge problem in your work environment.

This is how side decisions get made. This is how things skip getting written down. This is how you break protocols, and risk other people wasting time to do some properly because you just took it up with someone. It kills asymmetric work. It make growth difficult as your office expands to other countries and offices. Documentation gets worse, responsibilities get worse.

This is what ruins work from home.