Overview
With some team members working varied or flexible schedules in multiple locations — on campus or remote — it is helpful to share work status or location with teammates.
Here are some tools and practices that can help.
Outlook Signature
Create or update your email signature to include your schedule's hours and locations. For example, you may alternate buildings based on the days of the week, or perhaps you are working remotely at times. You can also help others contact you by providing a good phone number at which to reach you.
Note: Be sure to follow the RHS Email Signatures guide when formatting your signature, and consider including your pronouns.
Check out this source of information and instructions for creating signatures.
Outlook Calendar Settings
Set your standard working hours in your Outlook calendar. All other times will appear grayed out when someone looks at your calendar.
In Classic Outlook, navigate to File > Options > Calendar, then select Work Hours and Location.
In the New Outlook, go to Settings (Gear icon) > Calendar > Work Hours and Location.
Check the boxes for the days of the week, enter hours and select the location (Office or Remote) for each day.
Book Appointments on Your Calendar
If you work remotely, consider adding a recurring appointment to your calendar and select a "show as" status for the appointment as "Working Elsewhere." In Outlook's Scheduling Assistant, time ranges with this appointment will still display your schedule as available to invite to meetings.
- In Outlook, select the Calendar module, then New Appointment (Classic Outlook) or New Event (New Outlook)
- Add a title such as "Working Elsewhere"
- Optionally, select Recurrence (called Series in New Outlook) and configure start and end times, days of the week, and times that you are working in an alternate location.
- Select Ok.
- In the Show As setting, instead of "Busy,"select Working Elsewhere, then save your appointment.
Calendar Permissions
Set your calendar permissions to allow everyone in the MSU organization to view your titles and the locations of your appointments/meetings or events. This will allow others to propose meetings and discern when you are available in-person or virtually. Don't forget to mark confidential appointments as private.
- In Outlook, select the Calendar module.
- In the left navigation, under the My Calendar menu, find and right-click the listing for Calendar (it may be labeled with YourNetID@msu.edu or may just say calendar).
- Select Sharing (and) Permissions.
Classic Outlook screen shot of steps (click to enlarge):
New Outlook screen shot of steps:
- Classic Outlook: Under the name field, make sure My Organization is selected and highlighted blue.
- New Outlook: Go to the drop-down for "People in my organization."
- For permissions, select the Can view titles and locations.
- For Classic Outlook, click Ok to apply your changes.
Classic Outlook screen shot:
New Outlook Screen shot:
Microsoft Teams Status
Set your status in Teams to show a brief description of your schedule. Be sure to check the box to show your status in channels or when someone messages you.
- Open the Microsoft Teams desktop application.
- In the upper-right, select your profile icon (your picture or initials).
- Under your status (Busy, available, away, etc.), there is a location listed (may be based on your Work Locations and Hours settings in Outlook). You can change this from the drop-down menu.
- Also, hover your mouse over the text box, click the Edit (pencil icon),
- Type in a description of your schedule in general. For example, "Weekly schedule: Remote Mondays and Thursdays, in office all other days."Type your schedule information, including the days and times of the week and corresponding locations.
- Optionally, check the box for Show when people message me.
- Set the drop-down option for Clear status message after (time increment). To leave it showing indefinitely, select Never.
- Select Done.
