I'm in a bind. My team is remote and we use Teams, but one DR is always offline or away when I need her. Like, always. And for extended periods. Her performance is declining, and it's becoming a bigger deal. She attends group meetings though and she knows the expectations. How do I talk to her about her availability without making it about Teams? I want to work with her on this.

I would just call out the declining work and make it very focused on those expectations and how your employee is missing them . If being available during four hours is also a requirement of the job, call out that expectation
too. But I think if you keep the feedback focused on the declining work quality then the issue of her being unavailable will be resolved… one way or another!

It sounds like something is going on with her, and it would be a good idea to find out what's up and deal with it. If her work is declining, address that with her. And if she's expected to be available when you need her, reinforce that. If you suspect her disappearances portend more serious problems, try to ascertain that and resolve things however you see fit.

Definitely point out her lack of availability so she is aware everyone can see she’s offline. I wonder if she’s interviewing especially given it’s Q1. Or is something else up? Ask her: is everything OK? As a caring, open-ended question without mentioning health or family issues as possible causes. Let her answer without being led.

I’d take a problem-solving approach rather than a corrective one, at least at first. I’d say something like, "I’ve noticed it’s been hard to reach you when I need input, and I want to check in on how things are going for you. What’s your typical workflow during the day?" If she’s struggling with focus or juggling too much, I'd want to know. If she just isn’t prioritizing real-time communication, then I need to reinforce that responsiveness is part of the job. Either way, I'd recommend approaching it as a conversation, not an accusation.

And one more note: you can single click your profile photo in TEAMS to turn your light green. In case she’s just experiencing a technical glitch.

Three O’s:
Open with curiosity. Ask how things are going. Ask how she thinks things are with the team and her team.
Move on to your Observations. What’s not getting done. Her lack of availability or responsiveness or engagement.
Next, move on to Opportunities to improve—what do you want to see going forward. Or what do you miss from past performance.

Does she respond when you ping or email her?