Enhancing Employee Wellbeing and Productivity with Microsoft Viva Insights
Editor’s note: This content was written to highlight a particular event or moment in time. Although that moment has passed, we’re republishing it here so you can see what our thinking and experience was like at the time.
The modern workplace has transformed, particularly with the rise of hybrid work models. In response to these changes, Microsoft has been focused on enhancing employee wellbeing and productivity. According to Microsoft’s September 2022 Work Trend Index Pulse Report, which surveyed 20,000 people across 11 countries, 48% of employees reported feeling burned out at work. Prior to that, the March 2022 Work Trend Index revealed that 53% of participants prioritized health and wellbeing over work more than they had three years prior.
Employees overwhelmingly value a positive culture, personal wellbeing, and mental health and consider these critical for an employer to provide. To create a thriving hybrid workplace, Microsoft emphasizes employee wellbeing, connection and fulfillment, meeting effectiveness, and the development of adaptable work plans.
At Microsoft, we continue to evolve the employee experience to meet the needs of today’s digitally connected workforce. One of the key tools we’ve adopted to assess and address these needs is Microsoft Viva Insights, alongside Glint. This is part of a larger strategy to increase engagement, collaboration, and productivity for all employees, as well as for leaders and managers. The program is implemented internally at Microsoft.
Insights for Individuals
Microsoft uses the Personal insights feature in Microsoft Viva Insights to assist employees in prioritizing wellbeing and boosting personal productivity in their daily routines. The insights generated from your data are private, providing personalized recommendations to choose to act on, assisting in day-to-day operations. For instance:
- The Microsoft Viva Insights Outlook add-in will suggest that an employee schedules preparation time for upcoming meetings and gives a similar reminder after responding to a meeting invitation.
- Employees can wrap up tasks during a virtual commute and log off for the day, preventing Outlook and Teams notifications from bothering them during off-work hours.
Microsoft ensures that its employees’ personal data is kept secure and private. Personal reflections, dashboards, and insights about work habits are available only to the individual employee.
Insights for Managers and Leaders
Leaders and managers use Microsoft Viva Insights to leverage data in making informed decisions that promote employee wellbeing and business success. Managers and leaders gain a better understanding of how work impacts their teams, which helps them evaluate leadership practices and pinpoint opportunities for development. Actions can then be taken, such as developing shared focus plans to generate positive improvements.
Privacy by Design
Microsoft Viva Insights is designed to ensure user privacy, which is a key consideration. It analyzes data from everyday work in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Graph to create objective metrics that monitor how work gets done. Viva Insights uses de-identification, aggregation, and differential privacy to provide useful information while protecting individual privacy. Differential privacy ensures that no individual activity or metric is visible to a manager or organization leader. The tool also adheres to local regulations for data privacy.
Engaging Employees and Encouraging Wellbeing
Microsoft focuses on employee wellbeing and productivity for all staff. We provide employees with actionable advice to help them work more effectively, build better habits, and achieve balance. The goal is to empower employees and help them thrive.
Creating Deeper Engagement with Customer Zero
Microsoft operates as its own first and best customer – what is termed “Customer Zero.” As a large enterprise, many of the challenges Microsoft faces when deploying these products are similar to those of other multinational enterprises, and even smaller companies. Microsoft collaborates closely with the Viva Insights product development team to share employee feedback. Internal experts at Microsoft provide industry-relevant context and feedback into the Viva Insights development process.
For example, implementation teams recognized early on the need for more granular admin controls to balance deployment speed with the need to review new experiences in many EU countries. Microsoft partnered with the Viva Insights engineering team to develop these and other controls, which are expected to enable even greater adoption and engagement.
Partnering for Successful Change
The path to enhanced productivity through Microsoft Viva Insights involves the entire organization. Implementing change in a large organization necessitates the appropriate stakeholders and collaborations. Executive sponsors, program managers, communications, IT specialists, and early adopters all played essential roles in rolling out Viva Insights within the Microsoft ecosystem.
Steve Reay, principal product manager for Microsoft Digital, noted the influence of HR and organizational culture on the focus of Viva Insights. He emphasized that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work here. HR teams were instrumental in helping define the specifics of the organization at work. Microsoft utilized a hybrid change management approach, with central communications and activities driven by local teams.
Ensuring Privacy and Compliance with Partnership
Collaboration with workers’ councils has enhanced product and service rollouts in the European Union. These councils have provided critical input, which has helped assure that new features protect employee privacy. The agile design of Viva Insights allows the product team to deploy new features without waiting for major product updates. Microsoft is able to obtain feedback from worker representatives fast, which allows for faster deployments. Since it was first rolled out, Microsoft Viva Insights has saved employees hundreds of hours per year.
Putting Viva Insights to Work
Viva Insights has impacted team culture by enabling teams to define work patterns and expectations. One internal business group team set their work calendar from 9 am to 3 pm, Pacific Standard Time, allowing for a conscious effort for team members to have time with their families without work interruptions. The tool provides preparation details for meetings. An internal HR user of Viva Insights stated, “Having the preparation details for an upcoming meeting delivered directly to me not only improves my productivity, but it makes me more confident. It directly increased my wellbeing.”
The team also uses it for focus time blocks and meeting-free Fridays. Other common goals involve recognizing colleagues by sending Praise, which fosters a sense of value and recognition across the team.
Microsoft’s adoption of Viva Insights has involved integrating it within existing HR programs and building the product into the flow of work, rather than presenting it as a new tool.
Moving Forward
Microsoft continues to use Viva Insights to support personal and team work habits. Individualized insights allow employees to enhance their wellbeing and productivity. Broad insights are used to promote favorable organizational practices. According to Microsoft, key takeaways from the Viva Insights rollout include:
- Understand the needs and requirements of an organization
- Identify executive sponsorship and gain commitment
- Change management and communications are critical
- Proactively address any privacy concerns
- Engage works councils and regulatory bodies early
Microsoft continues to iterate and improve the Viva Insights platform to empower teams to manage their time and enhance their productivity and wellbeing. The firm will continue its efforts to improve the product for all customers.
