Today’s workforce has seen a lot of changes in the last few years. They are more mobile than ever through the use of cloud technologies, and the pandemic has led the way to having more teams working remotely.
The number of global remote employees is expected to double this year because many companies plan to keep work-from-home (WFH) employees in place even after the pandemic has passed.
Remote working has a transformative impact on both employers and employees. Besides the obvious difference in working location, it removes geographic boundaries. So, employers can hire talent from anywhere, and employees can work for companies all over the world without needing to relocate.
One of the leaders in championing tools to enable the modern workforce is Microsoft. Its Microsoft 365 is one of the most popular cloud platforms used for office productivity and connectivity.
Now the company is positioning itself to be a trend-setter once again with the first employee experience platform that brings learning, wellbeing, and engagement tools into employee workflows.
Microsoft Viva is this platform, and it was announced on February 4, 2021. It has the potential to transform the way your Charlotte area business thinks about team engagement and enablement.
Why is employee experience important?
Companies with engaged employees earn revenue than those with less engaged staff. Employees that feel energized and good about their workplace are also 87% less likely to leave.
Virgin Atlantic founder, Richard Branson once famously said, “Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough, so they don’t want to.” This is a great way to describe what Microsoft Viva is all about.
The Basics of Microsoft Viva
Microsoft Viva is a Microsoft Teams add-on that utilizes the power of Microsoft 365 to provide knowledge, communications, resources, and insights that improve the employee experience.
Viva has four main sections that are designed to work together fluidly.
Viva Topics
Viva Topics is designed to organize information across your company and make it easier for employees to reference when they need to. Topics are designed to be intuitive and reduce the time employees have to spend searching out information on their own.
For example, say that in a Teams channel conversation, someone mentions that the “SOAR” initiative is going well, and the entire marketing team will begin using it soon.
You only have a cursory knowledge of the initiative and realize you’d better get up to speed. If your organization uses Microsoft Viva, you won’t have to go searching through tons of old emails or on a company message thread to try to find the original information about SOAR. Instead, Viva recognizes the topic and links the mention to the information you need to learn more about it.
Image credit: Microsoft
Viva Insights
Viva Insights is designed to build a healthier workforce with less stress. It provides personal insights and insights for leaders and managers on their teams.
It’s designed to help companies build better work/life balance for employees through use of work habits that enhance both wellbeing and positive productivity.
For example, personal insights may be used to remind an individual to take regular breaks throughout the day. This can be especially important with a remote team, as some employees may tend to work through breaks.
Managers can help prevent employee burnout by getting general team insights on things like after-hours work and opportunities to improve engagement and wellbeing.
Viva Connections
The Connections area of Microsoft Viva provides personally curated content and a company-branded experience for employees.
It makes communication between teams more fluid and can ensure timely information is displayed to the right group of people.
Nearly 60% of employees mention feeling less connected to their colleagues after moving to a remote work environment.
Viva Connections provides all in one place:
- Relevant news
- Conversations
- Other resources
Viva Learning
Viva Learning connects to multiple learning management systems (LMS) and allows you to create a central learning hub that flows easily into your Teams channels and communications.
Training employees on new skills often takes a back seat to their daily work tasks, so employees end up feeling stuck and not being fully challenged, which can lead them to leave a company.
Viva Learning makes training and continuous learning less onerous, by incorporating training into MS Teams and pulling all learning content into a single place.
With multiple learning systems being brought together inside Teams, companies can easily offer more topics and make it simpler for staff to access them.
Is Your Team Fully Engaged and Connected?
Rocky Knoll Technologies can help your Charlotte area business put tools in place to engage, enrich, and empower your employees, which in turn improves your business profitability.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation. Call 704.594.7292 or reach us online.
