To help you get the most out of Viva Glint & Pulse, this newsletter brings you the latest insights, updates, and enhancements designed to elevate your platform usage and employee listening programs. Be sure to check out the new "Customer Success Stories" section showcasing an inspiring example from DocuSign.
New on your Viva Glint platform
Admin Self Service: Data Retention Update. Last month we shared the new feature enabling admin to retain identifiable data for deleted users. We initially planned to restart Entra Delete Signals in Viva Glint on November 1st. However, since we are still working on enhancements to give Admins more control over user data management, especially regarding Entra Delete Signals, we will continue to pause Entra Delete Signal in Viva Glint until the end of June 2026. The signals will resume on July 1, 2026. This extension will give us time to implement all necessary user data controls for Admins, such as email address/employee ID retention, viewing a list of deleted users, and restoring users, when possible, before reactivating the Entra Delete Signals. Additional information can be found in the Message Center as well as here and here.
UI Enhancements: Visual Indicator Added for Required Questions. In the past, when survey takers tried to skip a survey question that required a response they would see an error message. To make things clearer, we've added the text * Required under questions that are mandatory. This will help survey takers spot questions that must be answered right away to avoid confusion and disruption.
UI Enhancements: Updated Placeholder Text for Comments. The default comment placeholder text for rating questions in Viva Glint surveys has been updated from Add a comment (optional) to What can be improved in this area and what’s working well? to further encourage survey participants to provide thoughtful, actionable, and higher-quality feedback. This change is intended to drive more frequent and meaningful responses. Please note that this update applies only to the default placeholder text for rating questions; the placeholder text remains customizable, and any existing customized placeholder text will remain unchanged.
Reporting: Workplace Patterns Report. Now generally available in Viva Glint, this report highlights the relationships between employee survey scores and workplace activity and collaboration patterns without custom analysis. Enabled for administrators and extendable to other roles, this feature allows users to quickly identify and share actionable insights, enabling faster, data-driven decisions and boosting engagement across your organization. Learn more here.
Reporting: Regional Benchmarks. Building on the refreshed Global, Top 10%, Top 25%, and Industry benchmark suites in Viva Glint earlier this year, we have updated the Country & Region benchmark suites for 2025. These new benchmarks offer organizations more precise and up-to-date comparative insights into employee feedback across different regions, supporting better decision-making and more targeted action plans. Make sure to opt into benchmarks in the platform to access the benchmarks and related resources.
Copilot Enhancements: Multilingual Support. Viva Glint Copilot Localization lets users interact with Copilot in their chosen language, supporting prompts and responses in more than 70 languages. Copilot replies in the language set on the user's dashboard by default, but if a prompt is submitted in another language or contains mixed languages, Copilot will detect this and respond in the same language. This applies to both the Copilot sidecar and comments panel, making it easier for HR and managers in global organizations to use Copilot seamlessly. Advanced language detection and translation help Copilot deliver accurate and useful responses, regardless of language or dashboard settings. Learn more here and here.
Kindly note that this enhancement will be rolled out gradually throughout November and is expected to be fully rolled out by the end of the month. For the latest updates, please refer to the M365 roadmap item until it becomes available to all customers.
Copilot Updates: Known Issues, Improvements, Model Upgrade. We’re committed to improving your experience with Copilot in Viva Glint. Here are three key updates:
- Topic Count in Comment Summarization - The number of topics in comment summaries may not have matched user instructions previously. This issue has been fixed and should now work correctly.
- Sample Comment Count Display Issue - The displayed count of sampled comments may be inaccurate, though the underlying data and summarization are correct. This display-only issue has been fixed and should now work correctly.
- Applying Manager Hierarchy Filter - When asking Copilot to summarize comments by manager hierarchy, the filter may not apply correctly. As a workaround, apply the manager hierarchy filter to the report first, then request the summary. We’re working on a permanent fix.
Model Upgrade Spotlights - In July, we upgraded Copilot to newer GPT models. As a result, you may notice that Copilot’s responses to the same prompt could differ from those generated prior to July. This change reflects our ongoing commitment to leveraging the most advanced AI models available. We continuously evaluate the latest large language models for performance and accuracy and will keep you informed whenever significant model upgrades occur. Your feedback is invaluable as we strive to enhance Copilot’s capabilities.
Visit the new blog post here to learn about another exciting Copilot enhancement coming soon!
Current and Upcoming Private Previews
Sign Up for Copilot Highlights | Preview. Be among the first to experience Copilot Highlights, a new dashboard feature in Viva Glint that delivers instant, actionable summaries of survey results—spotlighting team strengths, opportunities, and engagement trends at a glance. This preview is designed to help managers and leaders quickly understand team status, identify critical focus areas, and celebrate successes. Reach out to us here to sign up.
Integrating with Organization data | Preview. Viva Glint is introducing integration with Organizational Data in Microsoft 365—bringing enterprise-grade security and seamless data ingestion across Viva and Microsoft suite applications. This new capability makes it easier than ever to connect your people data, streamline workflows, and unlock powerful insights for HR and IT teams. Be part of this evolution: join the preview, share your feedback, and help shape the future of data management at Microsoft. Express your interest here.
See our public roadmap for more feature updates.
Events and Learning Opportunities
November 23rd Customer Advisory Session: AI & People Transformation – Understanding HR’s Role to Drive AI Adoption
For current VCCP members only, register here to join this month’s session which will feature Viva Glint People Scientists discussing the role HR plays in enabling and driving successful AI transformation while providing attendees a chance to guide the development of a new Viva Glint-led resource for our customers.
During this session, you will learn how AI transformation is inexplicably tied to people transformation and how to drive people success in your organization through the lens of AI adoption. Drawing upon the latest in AI research and current trends across customers, our People Science team is uniquely positioning itself to help our customers drive AI adoption by addressing key barriers to success and helping HR unlock their potential to support AI transformation.
If you are not yet a member of the Viva Customer Connection Program (VCCP) but would like to participate in the upcoming session mentioned above, as well as gain access to numerous other engaging and valuable Viva Glint and Pulse customer activities, please see the sign-up information below.
New Thought Leadership
Research Drop: Amplifying Clarity and Impact of AI Agents by Aligning on Desired Outcomes. As AI agents turn AI technology from a personal productivity tool into a team value generator, it’s time to expand our thinking from not just the activities we want them to accomplish, but also the outcomes we want to achieve. The October Research Drop explores differences in AI agent adoption, multi-agent clarity, and team collaboration between employees on teams focusing on solely activities versus activities and outcomes. Read it here.
Unlocking Actionable Insights with the Workplace Patterns Report. The new Workplace Patterns Report in Viva Glint brings together employee engagement, meeting habits, and peer connection data, empowering organizations to link how people work with how they feel. This playbook guides users through holistic listening, combining survey sentiment and workplace metrics to surface actionable patterns. Check out the blog post and download the playbook.
Research Drop: Empowering Managers for an AI-First Future. As organizations shift toward an AI-first future, managers are emerging as pivotal for translating strategy into team-level impact. Yet only 56% feel supported integrating AI agents into their work. The November Research Drop explores how empowering managers with targeted training, resources, and a focus on psychological safety amplifies realized value, critical thinking, and trust in agentic AI. This month’s findings reveal that when managers lead by example and foster a culture of experimentation, teams are not only more ready to adopt AI but also achieve greater, lasting impact. Read it here.
Customer Success Stories
Docusign Accelerates Speed of Insights by 92% with AI-Powered Analysis
In any global company, timely and accurate data is essential for shaping go-to-market strategy, and Docusign is no exception. When launching a strategic employee survey for one of our largest departments responsible for go-to-market strategy, the goal was clear: quickly synthesize feedback to help leaders with product selling approaches and enablement, then guide key action planning and strategic decision-making.
The Challenge: Data Volume vs. Time
The survey had a high response rate with over 3,000 detailed and thoughtful comments from employees. These comments had rich insights but would have been incredibly time-intensive to process manually. Traditional analysis would have taken weeks, delaying decisions that needed to happen quickly. The volume of the data, combined with limited bandwidth from our small but mighty People Analytics team, made a faster, scalable approach essential.
The AI Solution: Speed and Precision
To meet the demand for quick, actionable insights, we implemented an approach that used both Viva Glint Copilot and Gemini to help analyze employee comments. Copilot was used primarily for the initial analysis across the thousands of comments, helping us create themes across all comments, themes from each specific survey question, and ideas for actions - all of which would have taken our team weeks, but was now accomplished in mere hours. This allowed us to pivot from manual data crunching to strategic analysis almost instantly.
The Results: 92% Time Savings and Increased Speed to Strategic Impact
Implementing AI into our survey analysis process shattered our previous timelines. An effort that would typically consume around 60 hours of manual work (including comment analysis, theme identification, summarization, comparisons, and action taking suggestions) was condensed to just 5 hours, representing a nearly 92% reduction in spent time.
Most critically, key findings were delivered to leadership within 24 hours of the survey closing. This speed allowed leadership to immediately move into action planning and strategic decision-making. In summary, using AI enabled us to quickly and accurately surface key issues important to employees, provide impactful, detailed insights that were incredibly helpful to leadership, and helped facilitate action planning and strategic decision-making.
The Future of Surveys is AI-Powered
The success of using AI for this strategic survey reinforced our belief that AI, specifically Viva Glint Copilot, is a powerful and transformative tool for all People teams. Inspired by the strategic survey success, our People Analytics team launched Copilot to our People team partners, developing internal training to ensure that Copilot is being used in a way that maximizes its impact. Our partners are now using Viva Glint Copilot to help gain insights from the feedback (comments) shared by employees in our largest company Engagement Pulse Surveys. Further Viva Glint Copilot use cases are planned for the future.
Connect with us
Join the Viva Customer Connection Program (VCCP)
Viva Customer Connection Program (VCCP) is Microsoft’s premier customer engagement initiative designed to connect Viva product teams directly with customers like you. By enrolling, you’ll gain access to a wide range of Viva product engagements, including dedicated sessions for Viva Glint & Pulse.
As a participant, you’ll have the opportunity to:
- Explore Viva and Glint product visions through exclusive previews and roadmap discussions.
- Shape product development by providing direct feedback on features, designs, and measurement models.
- Engage with Microsoft product teams in virtual sessions that run throughout the year, including monthly meetings and iterative design reviews.
- Network with other customers across industries and regions, sharing best practices and learning from peers.
By joining you will also be part of a strategic advisory group focused on Viva Glint-specific HR, AI and People Science topics.
If you’re interested in joining, please fill out this form so we can guide you through the enrollment process and help you get started.
We look forward to partnering with you to build better products—together.
Microsoft