Why evolving cultures demand employee-first technologies

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Microsoft Viva brings employee engagement, well-being, and purpose into the flow of work

WHEN THE pandemic forced a sudden and unprecedented shift to remote work, Microsoft understood the need for a new category of technology that would give employees the resources and support they needed to work and thrive no matter their location. This realization led to the development of today’s Microsoft Viva, an employee experience platform that brings communications, resources, and insights together to foster connectivity and productivity, allowing people and teams to be their best from anywhere.

Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq: MSFT), the worldwide leader in software, services, and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting, and local support services in both French and English. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.

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“We need to think about how to empower every employee, from traditional in-office knowledge workers to frontline workers, hybrid workers, and remote workers”

Jason Brommet, Microsoft Canada

“The shape of the workforce is changing,” says Jason Brommet, Microsoft modern work and security business lead. “We need to think about how to empower every employee, from traditional in-office knowledge workers to frontline workers, hybrid workers, and remote workers.” The first of its kind, Microsoft Viva is built for this new chapter in the digital era. The platform, which integrates seamlessly with Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams, brings engagement, learning, well-being, and knowledge discovery capabilities together with data-driven insights that gauge how people work and how they feel. “Prior to the pandemic, we defined work by where we go, not by what we do,” says Brommet. “Viva bridges the physical and the digital. It transcends time, location, and device to optimize all employees’ experiences, no matter their role or where they choose to work.” Viva gives employees the tools, technologies, and capabilities to achieve a balance between getting work done and keeping an eye on their well-being. At a time when the great resignation is of great concern, considerations such as these can make a tremendous difference.

What the research tells us A 2022 Work Trend Index compiled by Microsoft reveals 53 percent of today’s employees are more likely to prioritize health and well-being over work, and 52 percent of Gen Z and millennials are likely to consider changing employers this year, representing a three percent year-over-year increase. Companies that demonstrate a desire to meet individual employee needs while cultivating employee engagement across in-office, remote, and hybrid workplace environments are better positioned to retain talent within today’s skills-stressed market. Leading the charge in meeting complex employee needs

Viva’s five integrated modules – Insights, Connections, Topics, Learning, and Goals – help companies and HR leaders balance culture and technology to meet increasing employee expectations while optimizing business outcomes. “Many CHROs and HR leaders have questions about the differences in productivity and well-being among in-person employees and remote employees and teams,” says Brommet. “Viva Insights helps employers understand the way work is being performed. It empowers people and teams to be their best by facilitating personal productivity, or enabling managers to understand, in a privacy-protected way, the shape of their teams’ work so they can manage more effectively.” The Connections module acts as a gateway to the modern employee experience – a front door that connects employees to news, content, apps, resources, and conversations, and alleviates the need to remember links or where to go to find certain tools.

“Connections gives you everything you need all in one place,” Brommet says. The AI-powered Viva Topics module organizes structured content and tacit enterprise expertise across documents, presentations, and spreadsheets to foster information-driven innovation. Just as Topics pulls from aggregated internal knowledge, Viva’s Learning module helps employees access content across a learning ecosystem that includes Microsoft learning and training, as well as LinkedIn Learning, Skillsoft, Coursera, Josh Bersin Academy, and many other recognized instructional platforms.

“Many CHROs and HR leaders have questions about the differences in productivity and well-being among in-person employees and remote employees and teams”

Jason Brommet, Microsoft Canada

“To that I often say, ‘Are you limiting your thought process to traditional confines and definitions versus envisioning what might be the art of the possible? What about rotating shifts?’ Every organization is different, so I don’t want to paint this with a broad brush, but we do need to change our frame of reference to think about every worker from the boardroom to the frontline. It isn’t that anyone is more important; we need to bring everyone along.” Now is the time The role CHROs and HR leaders now play in facilitating organizational excellence has never been more crucial. According to Brommet, the first piece in achieving outstanding outcomes is mitigating employee

disengagement by considering the needs of every worker, and the second is giving all employees access to the systems, tools, peers, and people needed to create a more holistic employee experience. “The third piece is driving that sense of belonging,” he says. “Viva provides all those capabilities – everything you need to create consistent engagement and a sense of purpose across your entire workforce.”

Employee values are changing

of today’s employees are more likely to prioritize health and well-being over work

53%

Remote work and employee connection

of workers are feeling less connected to their teams since moving to remote work

60%

Viva Goals, the newest member of the family, is designed to drive goal alignment by helping HR teams understand the employee life cycle from hire to retire. “More often than not, companies say they’re struggling to ensure the people in their organizations feel connected to the company’s purpose,” says Brommet. “Viva Goals builds on OKR – objectives and key results – to get everyone working toward the same strategic priorities. The module aligns everyone with the company’s mission to deliver desired business results – again, no matter where anyone is working.” The art of the possible A recent Gallup report reveals disengaged employees are costing companies $450–$550 billion per year. Furthermore, Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend index says a whopping 60 percent of workers are feeling less connected to their teams since moving to remote work. Findings such as these underscore an urgent need for solutions. “There’s never been a more important time to empower every employee to help create the culture of your organization,” says Brommet. A big piece of this is the frontline worker segment, which is often closest to things that are most critical for an organization, whether that be manufacturing processes, supply chains, or customers. Though they’re the ones who’ve kept this country moving along, they are woefully under-supported and under-enabled. Microsoft’s 2022 Work Trend Index Special Report shows that frontline workers have been under an immense amount of pressure over the last 28 months, yet many companies are convinced their frontline employees are needed in the field.

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attention to because we consider our data to be very important and not to be compromised,” she says. “We’re also going to be challenged as the nonprofit sector continues to grow. We see that the [commercial] insurance industry has generally been inconsistent in its willingness to provide the sort of coverage that nonprofits need and at the price that they can afford. So, I think our challenge is going to be to be there for the groups of nonprofits that will lead us to take up the coverage when others might fail them.” To that end, NIA has made a concerted effort to reach out to brokers to help them determine the right coverage for their nonprofit clients.

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