Introducing insights in Teams insights to power wellbeing and productivity

When companies across the globe were forced to shift how they worked overnight, millions of employees and teams made Herculean efforts to adapt. Kitchens became boardrooms. Collaboration tools became lifelines. Housemates became officemates. Productivity, balance, and resilience took on new meanings. These rapid responses helped us stay productive and meet customers’ needs. But the juggle is real and the cost to people’s wellbeing is not sustainable. Over 30 percent of firstline and information workers said the pandemic has increased their sense of burnout at work. 

To thrive amid great change, we need organizational cultures that make it easier to recharge, connect, and do our best work. At Microsoft, we have been investing in this space for years with tools such as MyAnalytics and Workplace Analytics. Now, we are bringing these insights into Microsoft Teams and adding exciting experiences designed to help people harmonize wellbeing with productivity.

Starting in Q4 2020, individuals, managers, and business leaders will get insights and recommended actions to achieve a better day, a better week, and a better experience for themselves, their teams, and their organizations. Powered by Microsoft Graph and backed by trusted privacy safeguards, these capabilities put the opportunity for change into the hands of everyone in the organization.

Here is what’s coming:

Recharge, focus, connect: Personal insights

Productivity should never come at the cost of wellbeing. Now wellbeing can move to the top of your list. With personal productivity insights coming in Teams for MyAnalytics users starting in Q4 2020, people will be able to strengthen relationships with important people in their networks, seamlessly schedule time for 1:1s, stay caught up with key communications, and carve out time for important tasks and uninterrupted work.  

New personal wellbeing experiences are coming in the first half of 2021. A virtual commute will let you create mental bookends for your remote workday and make it easier to productively start and mindfully end the workday. Reminders to schedule breaks in the week before it fills up with meetings will help you better prepare and reduce the risk of burnout. We’re also excited to share that we are partnering with Headspace to bring a curated set of mindfulness experiences and science-backed meditations into the flow of your work in Teams.

Staying connected to your team and to your purpose has never been more important. With a new emotional check-in experience, also coming early next year, people can easily tap into how they and their teammates are feeling to improve the effectiveness of their day-to-day interactions.

Personal productivity and wellbeing insights are also available within Outlook. People can start their day with key insights and prompts—such as opportunities to connect, meetings to prep for, and commitments to follow up on—that are delivered in their daily briefing email from Cortana, generally available starting in September for Microsoft 365 Enterprise users in English. And the MyAnalytics digest email, already available worldwide for Microsoft 365 users with MyAnalytics, helps people reflect on their balance between focus work and collaboration, the strength of their network, and their ability to disconnect and recharge.

Team connection, positive change: Manager insights

We know from research that managers carry the life preservers in times of change, helping their people prioritize, stay connected, and protect their time. Manager insights will start rolling out for Workplace Analytics customers in Teams starting in Q4 2020. Managers gain line of sight into teamwork norms such as after-hours collaboration, focus time, meeting effectiveness, and cross-company connections alongside an average for similar teams. These insights help managers identify where change can have the greatest impact.

For example, we know that employee burnout accounts for as much as 50 percent of a company’s attrition. With tailored views in Teams, managers can now see after-hours collaboration norms for their entire team and how those habits compare to teams of similar size and function. With additional features coming to Teams in 2021, managers will be able to launch and track change programs that remind team members to avoid after-hours interactions and preserve quiet days. And weekly summaries will empower team members to monitor their progress and celebrate successes.

Building organizational resilience: Leader insights

Organizational insights in Teams give leaders visibility into how work is evolving and impacting the people who propel their business into the future. By answering questions like, “Are employees at risk for burnout? Are people maintaining strong internal connections? Are relationships with customers being maintained?” insights act like an EKG for business resilience so leaders can easily take the pulse of their organization. Leaders can track indicators of employee wellbeing and effectiveness and respond to irregular rhythms using research-backed recommendations for improvement. By seeing the impact of change over time, leaders can build cultures where wellbeing is the catalyst, not the cost, of productivity and resilience. These insights in Teams will start rolling out to Workplace Analytics customers starting in Q4 2020. 

Business continuity report: Insights for IT and digital transformation leaders

Due to the global shift to working remotely, collaboration norms have changed, but often leaders are not exactly sure how and by how much. As part of Microsoft Productivity Score, the business continuity report gives visibility at an organizational level into these changes. Using data from the Microsoft Graph, the report complements information in Microsoft Productivity Score and Microsoft 365 Usage Analytics with insights into collaboration and work patterns.

Responding to change, nurturing resiliency: Insights and tools that leaders need now

Leaders can also focus on building a more resilient business as they recover and plan for the future with Workplace Analytics Power BI dashboards. The business continuity dashboard surfaces opportunities to improve remote work effectiveness. The new Workplace Analytics return to worksites dashboard enables a data-driven approach to soft-opening decisions, by utilizing collaboration and network insights to help leaders uncover which teams should return first and how to optimize capacity.

The insights and features we’re talking about today further enhance and complement the rich capabilities of Workplace Analytics and MyAnalytics. We’re excited to now be bringing tools to harmonize wellbeing and productivity to more individuals, managers, and teams right in the flow of their work.

Get started

• View related on-demand sessions and learn more: aka.ms/ProductivityAndWellbeing
• Ask your Account Manager about a Workplace Analytics workshop
• Install the new insights app for Teams (rollout starting in Q4 2020)