[tobtoh]

I did that - my IM client was on permanent 'away' status. I was tired of being 'green' and people would send multiple messages if I didn't respond instantly to their IMs.

Being permanently 'away' meant people could still contact me and I could respond when convenient without disrupting my work.

I very much subscribe to the convention that proximity should determine how much communication should interrupt what you are doing. Face to Face > Phone/video Call > IM > Email

[UncleSam]

How do you manage this expectation when working in an environment where part of the office is in the physical building and part is fully remote? When we were all in the office (pre-covid), anybody could walk to your desk to have a face to face conversations.

My manager warned us not to deprioritize IM/calls or it could be used to justify reducing remote privileges (since there isn't a good face to face walk-up equivalent when remote).

I personally hated when people walked up to my desk without messaging me first, and I view unsolicited video calls the same way.