Ultimate Guide to the new Workplace Patterns Report in Viva Glint

Imagine having key data sources like employee engagement, meeting hours, and peer connections data in one place. That’s now a reality with the introduction today of the Workplace Patterns Report, a power tool that integrates point-in-time Viva Insights workplace habit data with point-in-time Viva Glint survey sentiment data. These two data sources empower analysts and admins to identify actionable patterns between how people work (workplace habits), and how they feel (survey sentiment).

To help you get a quick start, we’ve put together a playbook: Unlocking the Power of the Workplace Patterns Report which includes:

• An introduction to building a holistic listening system.
• FAQs from “What is the Workplace Patterns Report?” to “How do I interpret heatmaps?” and “Does a strong relationship prove causation?”
• Top 10 workplace metrics tracked by Viva Insights and integrated into Viva Glint.
• Case studies of two real-world scenarios highlighting how you can use the Workplace Patterns Report to surface relationships between habits like meeting hours, focus time, and experiences like work-life balance, and resources.
• Tips, tricks, and recommendations for making the most of your data, protecting confidentiality, and customizing your reports.
• Appendices with handy tables mapping common sentiment - workplace metric pairings.

The Workplace Patterns Report and holistic listening

Because employee attitudes and behaviors change rapidly and periodic surveys won’t give you timely insights. The Workplace Patterns Report (WPR) is all about holistic listening – connecting employee feedback with actual work patterns.

The playbook introduces holistic listening as a multi-channel, integrated approach. It’s not just about employee polls; it’s about combining active listening (like engagement surveys and manager feedback) with ambient signals (like collaboration patterns and meeting behaviors). The goal? To uncover patterns, anticipate needs, and inform focused interventions that can actually make a difference.

This Playbook is packed with FAQs about the report, how to interpret findings, and how to get the best from your data and report capabilities. Find out more in the Playbook!

Case Studies using real-World examples

Here are two case studies that illustrate the kinds of diagnoses you can do with the Workplace Patterns Report:

Case Study #1 Video: At what point are more meetings impacting work-life balance?

We see a common pattern, the “cliff” relationship, in the first case study. Work-life balance scores stay high until meeting hours hit 10–20 per week, then they drop off. So, yes—too many meetings can be detrimental, but a few are necessary for company life. The heatmap visuals make it easy to spot the tipping point.

Case Study #2 Video: Where’s the “sweet spot” for uninterrupted focus time?

Sometimes a relationship is not so obvious at a high level. One group may like more focus time, another prefers less. When averaged together, the relationship type may display “peaks” in odd places. Case study two disaggregates by worker type as individual contributors typically need more uninterrupted focus time than managers. The report shows a “spikey” pattern for resources, with ICs scoring highest when they have 12+ hours of focus time per week. Managers, on the other hand, peak at 4–12 hours. Filtering by role reveals these differences, and the playbook recommends checking comments for more context.

The Metrics: What’s Being Measured?

Here’s a sneak peek at the 10 workplace metrics you’ll find. Each metric is explained in detail in the Playbook:

1. After Hours Collaboration – How much time people spend working outside regular hours.
2. Call Hours – Time spent in Teams calls.
3. Collaboration Hours – Total time in meetings, emails, IMs, and calls.
4. Email Hours – Time spent on email.
5. Internal Network Size – Number of people with whom someone has reciprocal interactions.
6. Meeting Hours – Time spent in meetings.
7. Meeting Hours with Manager 1:1 – One-on-one time with the boss.
8. Multitasking Time – Time spent sending emails or IMs during meetings.
9. Uninterrupted Hours (Focus Time) – Blocks of deep work with no interruptions.
10. Meeting Hours with Skip Level – Time spent in meetings with the manager’s manager.

Tips & Tricks on how to use the report

The playbook is full of practical advice for making the most of your Workplace Patterns Report:

• Start with a hypothesis.
  Don’t just analyze everything—focus on what you think is happening in your team, then use the report to test your ideas.
• Delve deeper.
  Use filters to segment by role, department, or other attributes. Compare groups to see where the strongest relationships are hiding.
• Look for actionable insights.
  The report is a hypothesis-generating tool, not a magic wand. Use it to spot trends, then experiment with changes (like blocking more focus time or reducing after-hours work) and see what happens.
• Protect confidentiality.
  Only aggregate data is shown, and strict thresholds are enforced to keep individual info private.
• Customize your view.
  Filter by survey topics, workplace metrics, or subpopulations (like engineers or new hires) to uncover meaningful patterns.

More tips and tricks in the Playbook!

Further recommendations to increase the validity of your analyses

To get the best results, the playbook suggests:

• Focus on groups using Microsoft software regularly.
• Consider contextual factors (like remote vs. in-person work, busy seasons, or org changes).
• Expect differences across populations—don’t lump everyone together.
• Keep the employee experience front and center. There’s no “right” way to work; the goal is happiness and success for every team.

Take a deeper dive on these ideas in the Playbook!

What’s next with the Workplace Patterns Report?

Leaders will soon get access to continuous metrics (like Work-Life Balance and Collaboration) in a new tab, with email alerts to stay updated between survey cycles.