In our previous article, we summarised why it is important for companies to develop their employee experience strategy and their own integrated employee experience (EX), and why companies should choose Microsoft Viva as their integrated employee experience platform (EXP). There are three key areas to focus on: 1) the needs of the individual and team should always be a priority, 2) investing in people is key to business performance, and 3) good EX leads to business results. Microsoft Viva delivers these for companies by helping people develop their skills and discover new ones, by giving leaders data-driven insights that help them make better decisions, and by helping organisations build an inclusive, thriving culture where everyone is empowered to reach their full potential. To achieve effective EX, four elements need to be considered.

1. Connection

The EX has been transformed in the new hybrid world, where people are connected to each other and to work in different ways, often making them feel more stressed. For this reason, companies need a new approach to ensure that EX and company culture can meet changing employee needs. Microsoft Viva is helping to foster a more vibrant, connected and inclusive workplace culture where information and knowledge flow freely and everyone feels part of the organisation, wherever they work. By building a communication and community platform, Microsoft Viva strengthens workplace relationships by

• helping people find relevant and personalised information, news and resources through the applications they use every day,
• creating communities and places to connect,
• facilitates two-way dialogue between employees and managers and promotes open discussion and knowledge sharing between employees,
• connects employees to the right tools, people and information.

2. Insight

In a hybrid world, managers are challenged to monitor and assess the performance of their employees, so unlocking real-time insights and actionable recommendations are essential to keep employees focused in the organisation. In addition, this increases productivity, improves employee engagement and helps the company retain employees by allowing them to provide feedback on their workplace experiences. When managers have a holistic view of not only how people work, but also how they feel, they have a better understanding of the health of the whole organisation, including cultural and organisational challenges.

Microsoft Viva enables managers to leverage the power of workplace analytics and listening tools to understand which programs are working well and identify areas for improvement. Microsoft Viva helps:

• provide individuals with personalized insights and incentives to stay focused, productive and attentive throughout the day,
• managers to identify and address opportunities to reduce burnout and increase productivity,
• continuously monitor employee performance, adding timely, actionable insights.

3. Purpose

Flexibility, inclusiveness and a clear sense of purpose and human treatment are now a fundamental requirement for employees. EX tools like objectives and key results (OKR) in Microsoft Viva offer a proven goal-setting framework for creating alignment, sharpening focus, and building a highly productive and engaged work culture.

Microsoft Viva EXP

• clarifies and aligns goals across the organization so that people know how to be successful together,
• enhances individual and group performance through personalised learning and role-based targeted training,
• provides an easy way for employees to find and share best practices and knowledge with others,
• increases collaboration and meeting effectiveness, therefore employees have a clear understanding of their role within the organisation and their responsibilities,
• everyone sees the bigger picture through clear objectives and prioritizing key results to improve EX.

4. Growth

Investing in learning and knowledge has become a core part of the strategy to retain and cultivate the best talent. With Microsoft Viva EXP companies can develop and retain top talent by empowering employees to choose their own path with the right content, information and connections to expand their impact at every stage of the career journey.

However, a clear barrier to growth/learning potential is lack of time, difficulty in setting priorities and lack of high-quality learning content, which affect both onboarding and retention. Microsoft Viva contributes to all stages of the employee lifecycle by

• simplifying the on-boarding of new recruits and employees moving into new roles,
• encouraging employee learning by providing curated courses and retraining assignments,
• enhancing individual and team performance through personalised learning and role-based targeted training,
• fostering individual and organisational growth through networking, mentoring and communities,
• helping managers set clear goals by aligning people and projects to strategic business priorities and empowers people and teams to achieve more together.

Choose Microsoft Viva integrated employee experience platform and use all the four elements to build up a unique employee experience at your organization. Contact us and we are happy to help you through this journey.

To write this blog article we used Microsoft’s ebook “The People-Powered Workplace - Empowering people and teams to be their best” which can be download here after registration: https://info.microsoft.com/ww-landing-people-powered-workplace.html?culture=en-us&country=us