The Status Dot
There's a new rule at work. All remote workers must set their status to "online" while at their desks. Will distractions get in the way of deadlines?
Start DilemmaPreview
You work remotely and take your job seriously. But you also know you’re easily distracted. Constant messages, status pings, and questions throughout the day break your focus. To stay productive, you keep your status set to “offline” even though you’re working steadily behind the scenes.
Your manager has recently asked everyone to keep their status set to “active” during work hours to promote transparency and team connection. You understand that this helps build trust, especially with new employees. However, you've been working at this job for over two years and feel you've built up trust through hard work. You know you’ll be flooded with interruptions, fall behind on work, and possibly miss deadlines with this new rule.
What do you do?
Keep appearing as "offline."
Turn your status to "active."
Useful Language
Students can access a Useful Language drawer at any time during the activity. The key vocabulary and sentence stems will help your learners express their thoughts and opinions.
Key Words
- work remotely: to work from home or a location outside the office or facility
- status: what people see next to your name on a chat app (e.g., Slack or Teams)
- distraction: something that takes your attention away from the main job
- focus: the ability to pay attention and work well without interruption
- transparency: the practice of openly sharing information so that everyone can see or understand what is happening
- flexible: able to change or adjust easily
- burnout: the feeling of being tired or stressed out from too much work or pressure
Sentence Stems
- I would choose to keep my status "offline" because...
- I believe it’s better to stay visible online because...
- The best decision in this case is to...
- It helps me stay focused when...
- Being “active” online makes it harder to...
- Other people may not understand that...
- This choice supports my mental health because...
- Some people might think it’s lazy, but actually...