Can my boss read my Microsoft Teams chat?

[Pickman's model]

If the it people or managers were going to come down on me like a ton of bricks or even a hundredweight of hay they'd have done it a long time ago, as I've been pissing about on the internet at work for sixteen years and much less than complimentary about senior management by email at several employers.

 

[nogojones]

Use teams to speak to you mate about your worries. A competitor is trying to poach you. Its a shame because you love working here so much, but they are offering 20% more and it will make all the difference.

 

[Schmetterling]

Flooded basements?!?!? Is this some meme or urban in-joke that I'm unaware of?

———> Wagatha Christie thread.

 

[alex_]

That licence costs £33.40 per user per month, compared to about seven quid for a basic enterprise licence. I don't know where the OP works but might not be likely.(Incidentally looking at that ridiculously written document brought back my MSFT PTSD).

Email is basically open to work admins, they can go through all work emails. Stuff like Slack DMs they can't, but people can still screenshot and send on so assume everything you write down will be read by everybody and don't put anything incriminating. Obviously public channels can be seen by everybody on them.

You can search slack - you can get xml downloads of every message.

Use WhatsApp on your personal phone to slag off your colleagues and if you are going to do it on company systems - don’t talk about Anne o’neemus - talk about AON. it won’t turn up in a search and is ambiguous enough to let you get away with it.

 

[tim]

If the it people or managers were going to come down on me like a ton of bricks or even a hundredweight of hay they'd have done it a long time ago, as I've been pissing about on the internet at work for sixteen years and much less than complimentary about senior management by email at several employers.

We've noticed this even if your bosses haven't.

 

[tommers]

You can search slack - you can get xml downloads of every message.

Really? It literally says at the top of every dm conversation that this is only accessible to you and the other person?

 

[alex_]

Really? It literally says at the top of every dm conversation that this is only accessible to you and the other person?

Did work provide you with a login ( and pay for slack ) or did you sign up at slack.com for a free account ?

If it’s a work account on either a business or enterprise license they can search it. If work don’t administer it I don’t know, but I’d still be careful.

Here is how to do it Slack: Retrieve all messages

 

[alex_]

Not always - I've been given access to people's accounts for various legal reasons and it can be fascinating, or sometimes downright hilarious.

I’m speaking from experience as well, it’s very unlikely someone is reading all of the messages in the background. It’d cost a fortune for starters.

 

[A380]

If it’s a work system don’t write anything you wouldn’t put on a post it note with your name on stuck to the wall by reception.

 

[ruffneck23]

Yep, one of my main work rules is, your work device ( laptop / desktop / phone) is just that, a work device and never use it for personal stuff.

It's amazing the amount of times I have found links to porn sites in peoples internet history on their work devices when I have had to fix them.

 

[Supine]

Yep, one of my main work rules is, your work device ( laptop / desktop / phone) is just that, a work device and never use it for personal stuff.

It's amazing the amount of times I have found links to porn sites in peoples internet history on their work devices when I have had to fix them.

This. The only website i visit on my work laptop is bbc news. Slagging anyone off on teams or any other software is not worth the risk.

 

[pogofish]

We are warned to be circumspect as anything posted on Teams or by work email has the potential to be accessed via an FOI request.

With phones, they used to select a fairly small selection of numbers annually for "auditing" and went through them with a fine-tooth comb - although fairly tolerant of personal use, I've known one or two people who have had an informal warning about the amount of personal calls they made but nothing more serious than that. Don't know what they do now most of us are over to Teams Telephony.

The worst I came across recently was a disciplinary with someone who forgot to turn-off a streaming service on a work mobile and went on holiday which accumulated massive roaming/data charges. However, when it came to the crunch, the hearing decided that they couldn't justify anything more than a minor warning because one of the senior management had recently been excused for doing basically exactly the same thing!

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yes, they have free access to your messages and can monitor keywords.

What about the data protection act? My manager isn’t allowed to look at my screen so how can he look at private messages?

 

[maomao]

What about the data protection act? My manager isn’t allowed to look at my screen so how can he look at private messages?

Well, it seems to have been established that I was wrong (about them necessarily having the ability) since I posted but that sounds odd to me. Can't look at your screen? What (roughly) do you do? I've known people be told in workplaces to not use work email for anything except work communication. Teams is for work communication.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Well, it seems to have been established that I was wrong (about them necessarily having the ability) since I posted but that sounds odd to me. Can't look at your screen? What (roughly) do you do? I've known people be told in workplaces to not use work email for anything except work communication. Teams is for work communication.

I do maintenance so not really an office job but part of it does involve a bit of admin. The company went a bit nuts over data protection a year or so ago and one of the things my boss reckoned was that he couldn’t look over my shoulder at my screen without me knowing. Also looking at signing in sheets was a no no.
So I could have terrible timekeeping but him checking on this could land HIM in hot water. Lol

 

[maomao]

I do maintenance so not really an office job but part of it does involve a bit of admin. The company went a bit nuts over data protection a year or so ago and one of the things my boss reckoned was that he couldn’t look over my shoulder at my screen without me knowing. Also looking at signing in sheets was a no no.
So I could have terrible timekeeping but him checking on this could land HIM in hot water. Lol

I'm pretty sure your boss has got a lot of that wrong but I wouldn't bother putting him right.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

I'm pretty sure your boss has got a lot of that wrong but I wouldn't bother putting him right.

I’ll ask when I next see him. It might be company policy rather than actual law to cover some eventuality.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

With phones, they used to select a fairly small selection of numbers annually for "auditing" and went through them with a fine-tooth comb - although fairly tolerant of personal use, I've known one or two people who have had an informal warning about the amount of personal calls they made but nothing more serious than that. Don't know what they do now most of us are over to Teams Telephony.

There is a complete ban on using work mobiles for personal reasons at my place, except in emergencies. It's a reasonable stance given most people will have their own phones anyway.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

This. The only website i visit on my work laptop is bbc news. Slagging anyone off on teams or any other software is not worth the risk.

Not so much slagging anyone off, but commenting on the unfairness of newer staff members who had received different/better induction training, who as a result managed to pass certain milestones more quickly, and as a result now get preferential treatment that now enables them to meet targets more easily and also earn more in bonuses.

So the 'slagging off', amounts to voicing discontent and anxiety about newer staff having been sort of leapfrogged over me, and as a result I'm in a Catch 22 situation, being held back for not consistently reaching performance standards, but I feel like if I was on the fast track like the newer staff leapfrogged over me, then I'd more easily be able to consistently achieve that.

It's that others are getting that preferential treatment and opportunities to reach targets and earn bonuses, and I'm being told you'll be able to as well if you consistently achieve your targets, but then it's like I'm being asked to do so with one arm tied behind my back compared with the newer staff who had more thorough/better training.

It's a bit like comparing apples with oranges, but it's like they're being given oranges and told to make x amount of orange juice to meet targets and earn bonuses. Whereas I'm also expected to make x amount of orange juice, but some days I'm given apples and some days I'm given oranges, yet I'm still expected to make orange juice. And I'm criticised for not making enough orange juice, I'm told 'If you make enough orange juice with your allocation of apples and oranges (mostly apples), then we will give you just oranges to make orange juice.

My Aspie (autistic) brain with it's strong sense of logic and social justice is feeling that it's a bit unjust and I mentioned it to a colleague who started the same time. I think she's also not consistently hitting targets, but she's not so bothered as she married with a husband in a well-paying job, whereas I'm single and reliant on this job to pay rent and bills and being put on the preferential 'oranges track' would mean I could meet targets and make bonuses, so I feel a bit aggrieved about being held back.

 

[smmudge]

Not so much slagging anyone off, but commenting on the unfairness of newer staff members who had received different/better induction training, who as a result managed to pass certain milestones more quickly, and as a result now get preferential treatment that now enables them to meet targets more easily and also earn more in bonuses.

So the 'slagging off', amounts to voicing discontent and anxiety about newer staff having been sort of leapfrogged over me, and as a result I'm in a Catch 22 situation, being held back for not consistently reaching performance standards, but I feel like if I was on the fast track like the newer staff leapfrogged over me, then I'd more easily be able to consistently achieve that.

It's that others are getting that preferential treatment and opportunities to reach targets and earn bonuses, and I'm being told you'll be able to as well if you consistently achieve your targets, but then it's like I'm being asked to do so with one arm tied behind my back compared with the newer staff who had more thorough/better training.

It's a bit like comparing apples with oranges, but it's like they're being given oranges and told to make x amount of orange juice to meet targets and earn bonuses. Whereas I'm also expected to make x amount of orange juice, but some days I'm given apples and some days I'm given oranges, yet I'm still expected to make orange juice. And I'm criticised for not making enough orange juice, I'm told 'If you make enough orange juice with your allocation of apples and oranges (mostly apples), then we will give you just oranges to make orange juice.

My Aspie (autistic) brain with it's strong sense of logic and social justice is feeling that it's a bit unjust and I mentioned it to a colleague who started the same time. I think she's also not consistently hitting targets, but she's not so bothered as she married with a husband in a well-paying job, whereas I'm single and reliant on this job to pay rent and bills and being put on the preferential 'oranges track' would mean I could meet targets and make bonuses, so I feel a bit aggrieved about being held back.

I think if you're being critical only of working practices/a situation I can't see how they could justify a disciplinary over that, compared to say, making personally offensive remarks about a specific person.

Could you ask your manager if you could attend some of these better training sessions next time they're running them? If they make you more "productive", to them it will be worth the time to let you do it.

 

[pogofish]

There is a complete ban on using work mobiles for personal reasons at my place, except in emergencies. It's a reasonable stance given most people will have their own phones anyway.

Our lot have been historically a bit more easy going - partly because the idea of separating work/personal life is something that a significant percentage of my colleagues might have a bit of trouble with!

However, broadly, that's how I've always worked it. When I had a work mobile, it did go off when I finished and only went on again shortly before I set-off for work, unless I had specific reason to do otherwise. It never got used for anything personal.

The guy who got in-shit was fine to use it for music/data on-site and in the UK but he simply forgot that when he took-off on holiday, this privilege ended and thanks to the horrible contract the work mobiles were supplied under, that was when the already high prices really started to rack-up.

 

[alex_]

Not so much slagging anyone off, but commenting on the unfairness of newer staff members who had received different/better induction training, who as a result managed to pass certain milestones more quickly, and as a result now get preferential treatment that now enables them to meet targets more easily and also earn more in bonuses.

So the 'slagging off', amounts to voicing discontent and anxiety about newer staff having been sort of leapfrogged over me, and as a result I'm in a Catch 22 situation, being held back for not consistently reaching performance standards, but I feel like if I was on the fast track like the newer staff leapfrogged over me, then I'd more easily be able to consistently achieve that.

It's that others are getting that preferential treatment and opportunities to reach targets and earn bonuses, and I'm being told you'll be able to as well if you consistently achieve your targets, but then it's like I'm being asked to do so with one arm tied behind my back compared with the newer staff who had more thorough/better training.

It's a bit like comparing apples with oranges, but it's like they're being given oranges and told to make x amount of orange juice to meet targets and earn bonuses. Whereas I'm also expected to make x amount of orange juice, but some days I'm given apples and some days I'm given oranges, yet I'm still expected to make orange juice. And I'm criticised for not making enough orange juice, I'm told 'If you make enough orange juice with your allocation of apples and oranges (mostly apples), then we will give you just oranges to make orange juice.

My Aspie (autistic) brain with it's strong sense of logic and social justice is feeling that it's a bit unjust and I mentioned it to a colleague who started the same time. I think she's also not consistently hitting targets, but she's not so bothered as she married with a husband in a well-paying job, whereas I'm single and reliant on this job to pay rent and bills and being put on the preferential 'oranges track' would mean I could meet targets and make bonuses, so I feel a bit aggrieved about being held back.

They’d struggle to discipline you for complaining about this !

 

[alex_]

I’ll ask when I next see him. It might be company policy rather than actual law to cover some eventuality.

Yes it’ll be policy - they won’t want to do the privacy risk assessments - so they’ve decided managers can’t look at screens w/o permission.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

I think if you're being critical only of working practices/a situation I can't see how they could justify a disciplinary over that, compared to say, making personally offensive remarks about a specific person.

Could you ask your manager if you could attend some of these better training sessions next time they're running them? If they make you more "productive", to them it will be worth the time to let you do it.

Thanks for the reassurance, I was worried. The induction training takes more than a week, though, so they're not going to take me off the floor for a week and put me through it all again. I've just got to muddle through and try to improve, effectively with one arm tied behind my back. Or else.

 

[AnnO'Neemus]

They’d struggle to discipline you for complaining about this !

Thanks for the reassurance, I was worried.

 

[Magnus McGinty]

Yes it’ll be policy - they won’t want to do the privacy risk assessments - so they’ve decided managers can’t look at screens w/o permission.

My company is very much like that. Use a sledgehammer to crack a nut and apply it across the board else it's discrimination.