mac big sur verifying office applications every time i open them

I've encountered this too. As far as I can tell, the system verifies when there are updates pushed to Microsoft apps if you have autoupdate turned on. Subsequent opening of an app does not verify the install. It does seem frequent so I'm not sure how often Microsoft updates apps.

YES. My Mac is doing the same after "upgrading" to Big Sur. What a m*%&#$%&@(ing PITA! It verifies all MS and Adobe programs when I open them. Can somebody please advise of a workaround for this? It's complete b&#*!hit!