Many companies experience the same phenomenon: some employees are overloaded with calls, while others rarely get any. The support queue feels unbalanced, and no one can quite explain why.
The cause often lies in how Microsoft Teams interprets availability. Presence-based routing is an intelligent feature, but it depends on one factor that many underestimate: calendar discipline.
If the calendar doesn't reflect reality, the system's logic falls apart. In this article, we take a closer look at how presence-based routing works, when you should (and shouldn't) use it, and how to get the most out of it with the right tools and processes.
Presence-based routing means that the system assesses whether an agent is available for calls based on their Teams status. If the status is green (Available), the agent can receive calls. If the status is instead Busy, Presenting, or Do not disturb, the agent is automatically excluded from receiving new calls in the queue.
This means that call distribution depends heavily on how Teams and Outlook work together. Teams status is continuously updated based on calendar activities such as meetings, focus blocks, or scheduled absences.
Presence-based routing is therefore an elegant solution that creates more accurate and human distribution mechanisms. But it also requires employees to understand how their calendar affects their Teams status — and how that ultimately affects the efficiency of the entire queue.
In contrast, there is non-presence-based routing. Here, the system completely ignores the agent's Teams status and instead distributes calls according to the queue's basic logic — regardless of whether the agent is marked as available.
It's important to emphasize that a distribution algorithm is always in use, whether or not the presence feature is enabled. Presence-based routing works as an extra layer on top of the chosen algorithm, filtering by employees' availability in Teams.
The advantage of this approach is that you avoid gaps in the queue. Even if some employees have forgotten to mark themselves as busy, call distribution continues steadily. This ensures a smooth flow of calls, which can be especially beneficial in busy support teams where someone always needs to be "on the line."
The downside, however, is that calls can come through even when employees are in meetings or in the middle of an important task. This can disrupt concentration and create unnecessary stress in everyday work, especially in departments where focused work and phone conversations rarely go hand in hand.
The calendar controls more than you think
Teams and Outlook are closely connected systems, and this is exactly where many companies experience problems when presence-based routing is enabled. Teams uses the Outlook calendar to determine how an employee's status should be displayed.
If, for example, you have a meeting marked as Busy, you are automatically shown as Red in Teams. This means you aren't offered calls from the queue.
But there are also situations where you can deliberately reserve time in the calendar for tasks without shutting down calls entirely. If you schedule an hour for an internal task or report writing, for example, you can mark it as Free in Outlook instead of Busy. That way, you structure your workday without blocking calls in Teams.
It's a small difference, but it matters greatly:
This flexibility makes it possible to balance scheduled work time and availability, but it requires awareness and discipline.
The problem arises when employees don't use their calendar consistently. This can happen, for example, when someone books "focus blocks" without changing their availability to Busy. The result? Teams thinks you're available, and you become part of the routing logic even though you're deep in work.
This creates imbalance throughout the queue structure:
Calendar discipline is therefore not just a personal responsibility, but part of the company's communication infrastructure. Without a shared understanding of how Outlook and Teams connect, you lose the most important promise of presence-based routing: precision and balance.
Presence-based routing fits best when…
…the organization has clear routines and structured workdays, so the calendar reflects employees' actual availability. When meetings, tasks, and breaks are planned and recorded correctly in Outlook, it makes good sense to let Teams respect the status and automatically distribute calls based on it.
Here, routing becomes intelligent and fair — and employees avoid interruptions when they aren't available.
It works particularly well in environments such as:
Here, presence-based routing works as a natural extension of employees' work structure.
Non-presence-based routing fits better when…
…the workday is more changeable, so the calendar rarely reflects reality. This could be in helpdesk or first-line support environments, where employees can be interrupted continuously. Here it makes sense to use only ordinary queue logic such as longest idle or round robin.
The hybrid approach
Many companies find the best balance by combining the two models.
This way, you can optimize the customer experience without compromising employees' workflow.
Succeeding with presence-based routing isn't just about enabling the right feature in Teams. It's about behavior, transparency, and maintenance — three factors that determine whether the system actually reflects how employees work day to day. When the technology and the people behind it pull in the same direction, you get a setup that both increases efficiency and improves the customer experience.
Many employees don't know how small calendar changes can have major consequences for their Teams status — and thus for whether they're offered calls in a queue. That's why education and internal training should be the first step. Make it clear how the system reacts:
When everyone understands how Outlook and Teams interact, it becomes easier to plan realistically and avoid misunderstandings. This not only reduces errors in the queue logic but also creates fewer disruptions and more focused work.
For presence-based routing to work, the entire organization must play by the same rules. Without a shared understanding, one department can appear as Busy all day, while another receives all the calls.
So create simple but clear guidelines for status use, for example:
The guidelines should be documented and shared with everyone. They shouldn't just be technical instructions, but part of the company's communication policy. When employees know what's expected of them, the system can trust that the statuses reflect reality.
Even with good habits, imbalances can arise. That's why the organization should continuously analyze data and call patterns to see whether presence routing is working as intended.
Tools like VAAC (Voice Applications and Analytics Collector) and call queues can provide insight into how calls are distributed, and thereby reveal whether presence statuses are creating bottlenecks.
By combining technical data with behavioral insight, you can quickly spot where adjustments are needed. This makes it easier to improve performance without guessing.
Even the best setup requires ongoing maintenance, and this is where VoiceQ365 makes a significant difference.
VoiceQ365 brings all of Teams telephony administration into one place and gives both IT and team leaders control, insight, and flexibility in day-to-day operations. With VoiceQ365, you can:
When presence data is combined with VoiceQ365's reporting and visual overview, it becomes clear how routing actually works in practice and where action is needed. This creates a continuous feedback loop where technical insights lead to better behavior, and better behavior leads to more accurate routing.
In short: VoiceQ365 makes presence routing transparent, measurable, and actionable.
Presence-based routing isn't a "set and forget" feature. Even small changes in meeting habits, vacation plans, or employee roles can disrupt the queue balance.
So you should regularly check logs and reports for Missed calls due to presence. They reveal where the system misjudges availability — such as when an agent constantly appears as Busy without reason, or when a calendar isn't synchronized correctly.
By acting on data early, you can:
It's the ongoing maintenance that separates a good routing strategy from an effective and scalable solution.
Presence-based routing can be a powerful tool for creating balance between efficiency and employee well-being — but only if the technology is supported by clear processes, good calendar behavior, and transparency in data.
When Outlook, Teams, and your call queues work in sync, routing can become both intelligent and human. With VoiceQ365 from Performance Metrics, you get an overview of how availability affects queue logic in real time, and the ability to adjust the setup so it fits your company's needs precisely.
Want to know how VoiceQ365 can optimize your call queue structure and make presence routing more accurate? Contact us today, and we'll show you how you can gain full control over your queues, agents, and availability in Microsoft Teams.