(Redmond, WA, Thursday, September 22, 2022) – Today, Microsoft released a work trends report, “Hybrid Work is Just Work. Are We Doing It Wrong?” The company also announced new capabilities in Microsoft Viva, an employee experience application, designed to help employees thrive at a time when it’s more important than ever to ensure employees are engaged and thriving.

To help leaders navigate this new world of work amidst a backdrop of economic uncertainty, 20,000 people in 11 countries were surveyed, trillions of Microsoft 365 productivity signals were analyzed, along with LinkedIn labor trends. The data points to three urgent pivots leaders need to make to empower employees and thrive as a business in the new era of work. Because when employees thrive, organizations flourish. The findings include:

• End productivity paranoia
  • 87% of employees report they are productive at work, but 85% of leaders say the shift to hybrid work has made it challenging to have confidence their employees are being productive.
• Embrace the fact that people come in for each other
  • 73% of employees say they need a better reason to go into the office besides company expectations—but they would be motivated to go in if they could socialize with coworkers (84%) or rebuild team bonds (85%).
• Re-recruit your employees
  • 55% of employees say the best way to develop their skills is to change companies. However, they also say they would stay longer at their company if it was easier to change jobs internally (68%) or if they could benefit more from learning and development support (76%).

To support these challenges, the company is bringing new and existing capabilities together under one Viva Connections home experience to help streamline the Viva platform and make it even easier for people to take advantage of Viva’s offerings.

To learn more, visit microsoft.com/worklab.

The Work Trend Index survey was conducted by an independent research firm, Edelman Data x Intelligence, among 20,006 full-time employed or self-employed workers across 31 markets between July 2, 2022 to August 2, 2022.

Soundbites – Jared Spataro, Corporate Vice President of Modern Work

• NOW MORE THAN EVER, IT’S THE JOB OF EVERY LEADER TO BALANCE EMPLOYEE INTERESTS WITH THE SUCCESS OF THE ORGANIZATION, ALIGNING EVERYONE AROUND THE MOST IMPACTFUL WORK. ONE THING IS CLEAR: ENERGIZED, EMPOWERED EMPLOYEES ARE WHAT WILL GIVE ORGANIZATIONS A COMPETITIVE EDGE IN AN UNCERTAIN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT—AND ALLOW THEM TO EMERGE STRONGER.
• PRODUCTIVITY PARANOIA RISKS MAKING HYBRID WORK JUST UNSUSTAINABLE. 87% OF EMPLOYEES REPORT THEY ARE PRODUCTIVE AT WORK, WHILE 85% OF LEADERS SAY THE SHIFT TO HYBRID WORK HAS MADE IT CHALLENGING TO HAVE CONFIDENCE THAT PEOPLE ARE BEING PRODUCTIVE.  LEADERS NEED TO PIVOT AWAY FROM WORRYING ABOUT WHETHER THEIR EMPLOYEES ARE WORKING ENOUGH AND INSTEAD HELP THEM REPRIORITIZE WHAT’S MOST IMPORTANT.
• LAST YEAR, WE INTRODUCED VIVA, AN EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE PLATFORM DESIGNED TO FOSTER A HEALTHY COMPANY CULTURE AND SUPPORT EMPLOYEE WELLBEING. AND NOW WE’RE ANNOUNCING NEW INNOVATIONS IN VIVA THAT HELP LEADERS CREATE CLARITY, BUILD CONNECTIONS AND PRIORITIZE LEARNING.