We believe that Yammer, a tool that connects people and helps build communities, has an important role to play for a sense of belonging and inclusion. And we don’t want to simply build for inclusivity, we want to celebrate it.
Recently Yammer introduced reactions, and next, we want to bring diverse skin tones to Yammer reactions. We want users to feel a deeper sense of representation when interacting with the new Yammer. Once you select your skin tone (settings available both on web and mobile!), you can react quickly without having to decide every time you reply!
Yammer will be the first of the Microsoft 365 products to offer inclusive reactions. We are excited to lead the charge with other product groups at Microsoft in keeping inclusivity at the center of everything we do.
Inclusive for all
Being able to select your skin tones for reactions that you use to interact in conversations is just the first step in seeking inclusivity for Yammer. We want to build features that help all our users feel included and empowered. When designing this feature, we ensured reactions with skin-tones work on both light and dark mode, so users with varying abilities can use this feature as expected. Additionally, we looked beyond our team, to seek input from members of the various employee groups to ensure our proposal was honed by diverse perspectives.
Steps in the journey of inclusivity
Inclusivity is a process, in life and in products. We can take small steps in the right direction today, to build a more inclusive world for tomorrow. And I feel such a deep sense of pride, to know that we are committed to making inclusivity a way of life, through everything we do and everything we build at Yammer.
General availability starts now!
Inclusive reactions are starting to roll out and will be available to all users globally soon.
Here’s how to select a skin tone:
- Go to Yammer Settings (click on the gear icon on the suite header while in Yammer web; click on your avatar at the top left corner if you are on mobile).
- Click Choose your skin tone for reactions.
- Select a skin tone and click OK to save your preferences.
- Find a conversation and hover on the like button! And voila! See your skin tone preferences the next time you select a reaction!
Learn more about this via our support page.
- Trisharti Ghosh
Trisharti Ghosh is a Product Manager at Microsoft, and is focusing on conversations in Yammer.