A corporate professional has sparked discussion on social media after describing a common form of workplace anxiety in which employees become anxious the moment their manager appears online. In an Instagram video, Avik Roy explained how seeing his manager's Microsoft Teams status turn green would immediately put him in a "hyper-alert mode" and shared the strategies that helped him overcome the fear.
'I would go into a hyper-alert mode'
Roy recalled that during the early years of his corporate career, he would instantly assume that his manager's online presence meant a flood of messages requiring immediate responses.
He said the anxiety became so overwhelming that he even felt guilty about stepping away from his desk for a coffee break. Over time, he realised he had conditioned himself to believe that his manager coming online meant he was about to be questioned or judged.
