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Team Availability Calendar

As a team leader or manager, it's important to know the availability of your team members at any given time. This can help you assign tasks and projects efficiently, ensure that there is always coverage for critical functions, and reduce the risk of bottlenecks or delays. That's where team availability trackers come in.

A team availability tracker is a tool that allows you to view the availability of your team members in real-time. This can be especially useful for teams that are distributed or work remotely, as it can be difficult to stay up-to-date on everyone's schedule.

There are several types of team availability trackers available, each with its own set of features and capabilities.

Some popular options include:

  • Calendar integration
    This type of tracker integrates with your team's calendar system (e.g. Google Calendar, Outlook) and displays the availability of team members based on their calendar events.

  • Custom availability
    Some team availability trackers allow team members to input their availability directly into the system, either on a daily or weekly basis. This can be especially useful for teams that have irregular schedules or work on a flexible basis.

  • Automatic tracking
    Some team availability trackers use artificial intelligence or machine learning to automatically track the availability of team members based on their activity. For example, if a team member is actively working on their computer, the tracker may assume that they are available. Microsoft Teams is a great example of this with your availability regularly changing during the day.

What are the Benefits of Using a Tracking Tool?

There are lots of positives to availability tracking for managers and teams.

  • Improved efficiency
    A team availability tracker can help you see who is available to take on new tasks or projects in real-time, allowing you to assign work more efficiently.

  • Better coverage
    By tracking the availability of your team members, you can identify and address potential bottlenecks or coverage gaps, ensuring that there is always someone available to handle critical functions.

  • Increased productivity
    By streamlining the process of assigning tasks and scheduling meetings, a team availability tracker can help your team be more productive.

  • Better communication and transparency
    A team availability tracker can help improve communication within your team, as it provides a central location for everyone to see the availability of their colleagues whilst also helping to increase transparency. This can help reduce misunderstandings and improve collaboration.

  • Flexibility:
    Some team availability trackers allow team members to input their availability directly into the system, which can be especially useful for teams that have irregular schedules or work on a flexible basis.

What are the Potential Negatives?

There are a few potential negatives to consider when using a team availability tracking tool:

  • Invasion of privacy:
    Some team members may feel that their privacy is being violated by having their availability tracked. It's important to make sure that the use of the tracking tool is clearly communicated to all team members and that their privacy is respected.

  • Forced availability
    Some team members may feel pressure to make themselves available at all times, even when they are not able to work. This can lead to burnout and reduced productivity.

  • Time spent maintaining availability
    Team members may need to spend time updating their availability in the tracking tool, which could be seen as an additional burden.

  • Cost
    Depending on the tool, there may be a cost associated with using a team availability tracker. This could be a concern for small businesses or organizations with limited budgets. It's important to weigh the potential negatives of using a team availability tracker against the benefits it provides in order to determine if it is the right fit for your team.

Hints and Tips for Choosing and Implementing an Availability Tracking Solution

Most software offer free trials these days. For example at team-today.com we offer a free 30 day trial of our software meaning you can trial it with your team to ensure its the right fit without first creating a paid subscription.

To give your implementation the best chance of success try following some of our helpful hints below.

  • Integrate with existing tools
    ‍‍‍
    People can resent having to do a "new thing" never mind a "new thing in a new software in a new place." Team Today for example integrates with Microsoft Teams and Outlook so team members don't need to leave the software they are used to.

  • Keep it simple
    ‍‍
    Everyone is busy and learning new software is laborious, your choice should be intuitive enabling team members to get going without any training.

  • Communicate clearly with your team
    Make sure that all team members are aware of the team availability tracker and how it will be used. This will help ensure that it is used consistently and can help reduce any concerns about privacy.

  • Try a small trial with a range of teams
    Having a BETA team to trial the solution can help give you focussed feedback before its rolled out to the rest of the organisation.

  • Encourage use
    Encourage all team members to use the team availability tracker consistently, whether they are in the office or working remotely. This will help ensure that the tool is accurate and up-to-date.

  • Monitor usage
    Keep an eye on how the team availability tracker is being used to ensure that it is providing value to your team. If you notice that it is not being used as intended, consider adjusting your approach or finding a different tool.

Hybrid Work is Here to Stay So its Time to Upgrade Your Office Tools

Team availability trackers are an essential tool for team leaders and managers especially now we are in the days of hybrid working. Hopefully this article helps you in your search for an availability tracker.

If you'd like to find out how Team Today can help you track your teams availability contact us at hello@team-today.com.

Madeleine Thompson
Marketing

Team-Today is now free for up to 2 teams or 10 people. Sign up here, no credit card required.

With over 1,400 Microsoft reviews, here's what our customers are saying

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Really useful tool

AM

Anna Morgan

WRNA

Team Today has been so useful for our team to keep in the loop with everyone's whereabouts across multiple office locations and easily be able to gauge desk space. Really recommend this particularly for dispersed teams and hot desking booking purposes, It's really easy to use and handy that it syncs to the outlook calendar so prevents duplication

Mon, May 19, 2025

Simplicity & Value at its finest!

GH

Georgia Hetherington

DVV Media

This app is just perfect for organising hot desking & meeting rooms in our office. It syncs to our Outlook and is simple enough for people to use with virtually no training, but still has the capabilities to configure it to our specific requirements. The people at Team Today are friendly, professional, and extremely helpful offering a perfect solution without being over-priced!

Tue, May 21, 2024

Indispensable Tool

TC

Tim Cunnell

EPR

Since covid by business has adopted a hybrid working policy, and we quickly realised this new way of working posed new challenges as we struggled to keep track of colleagues' whereabouts. After looking at several tools we selected Team Today because of the way it integrates with Microsoft Teams and Outlook so effortlessly and provides a clear at-a-glance view of where our staff are. The support from Team Today has always been excellent (although we've needed very little help as the platform is very reliable and easy to use). And new features are always being added which always add value to what is already a tool that has become part of our business, and certainly one we could not be without.

Fri, Dec 20, 2024

Really great, cost-effective tool!

SS

Steven Searle

Mustard Research

Simple but very effective! They're continually developing too so there's so much more to come. Outside of using Team Today to track people's whereabouts it's a fantastic tool for managing annual leave. I transitioned our company to this (from the dreaded Excel sheets) and it's far simpler to manage; there are reports available, it's easy to change people's yearly allowances, add company/bank holidays etc. Looking forward to seeing what the next few years has in store on the development front!

Fri, Oct 25, 2024

Fantastic functionality & customer service

JG

Jen Guy

Galapagos Conservation Trust

As a small charity we have had a fantastic experience using this. It is incredibly affordable. The seamless integration with Teams is very useful, we have had little-to-no teething problems across the team (which for IT related things is quite impressive!). Any time we have had an issue or question it has been responded to with efficiency. The team are extraordinarily helpful! Would definitely recommend.

Fri, Jun 13, 2025

Excellent App

CH

Chirine Harb

Captial Asset Management

This app was so easy to install and navigate - It's an excellent way to find out which teams are in the office on a specific day. The intuitive design and seamless functionality are a testament to the design team's understanding of their customer, and the integration into Teams is perfect. Their customer service is exceptional, with queries and requests being promptly and efficiently addressed. I highly recommend using this app to navigate the complexities of remote working and having an office. Thank you

Wed, Jul 3, 2024

Really useful tool

AM

Anna Morgan

WRNA

Team Today has been so useful for our team to keep in the loop with everyone's whereabouts across multiple office locations and easily be able to gauge desk space. Really recommend this particularly for dispersed teams and hot desking booking purposes, It's really easy to use and handy that it syncs to the outlook calendar so prevents duplication

Mon, May 19, 2025

Simplicity & Value at its finest!

GH

Georgia Hetherington

DVV Media

This app is just perfect for organising hot desking & meeting rooms in our office. It syncs to our Outlook and is simple enough for people to use with virtually no training, but still has the capabilities to configure it to our specific requirements. The people at Team Today are friendly, professional, and extremely helpful offering a perfect solution without being over-priced!

Tue, May 21, 2024

Indispensable Tool

TC

Tim Cunnell

EPR

Since covid by business has adopted a hybrid working policy, and we quickly realised this new way of working posed new challenges as we struggled to keep track of colleagues' whereabouts. After looking at several tools we selected Team Today because of the way it integrates with Microsoft Teams and Outlook so effortlessly and provides a clear at-a-glance view of where our staff are. The support from Team Today has always been excellent (although we've needed very little help as the platform is very reliable and easy to use). And new features are always being added which always add value to what is already a tool that has become part of our business, and certainly one we could not be without.

Fri, Dec 20, 2024