Microsoft turns its focus towards frontline staff with Teams tweaks
With the pandemic accelerating digital transformation for data staff, it’s now time for these on the frontline to reap a number of the advantages. Microsoft unveiled updates to its Teams and Viva platforms with that in thoughts.
Ferguson
Over the final two years, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated a technological transformation for a lot of office-based staff, forcing them to alter work habits and depend on videoconferencing and collaboration software program to get their jobs performed.
Now it is time to deal with frontline staff, 41% of whom don’t have entry to the know-how they want, in line with Microsoft’s newest Work Trend Index Special Report on Frontline Workers. Based on a world survey of 9,600 frontline staff in eight international locations throughout eight industries who cannot work remotely, the analysis is designed to assist enterprise leaders navigate the altering office.
Jared Spataro, company vp for contemporary work at Microsoft, mentioned in a briefing final week that the corporate has typically centered on “data staff,” however desires to increase that focus to frontline staff; they symbolize greater than 80% of the worldwide workforce, or round 2 billion folks worldwide.
“At Microsoft, our mission is much broader than just information workers; we really are focused on empowering every person in every organization across the planet to achieve more,” Spataro mentioned.
That’s vital, mentioned Angela Ashenden, principal analyst for office transformation at CCS Insight, as a result of know-how has been a significant plus for frontline staff throughout the pandemic.
“What the pandemic did was expose the significance of this massive personnel to their companies,” Ashenden mentioned. “They had been usually the one factor that saved companies going, and infrequently bore the brunt of the pandemic from a enterprise standpoint, whether or not by way of not with the ability to work remotely, or being uncovered to the virus extra by way of their job.”
Frontline staff embrace these on the entrance traces in retail, manufacturing, hospitality, and healthcare.
The Microsoft survey highlighted plenty of challenges — with the necessity to steadiness worker well-being with enterprise progress an enormous difficulty; 51% of these surveyed mentioned these in non-management positions on the frontline don’t really feel valued, whereas 58% consider work-related stress will keep the identical or worsen in 2022.
Companies depending on frontline staff usually are not proof against the Great Resignation, which has seen a report variety of staff give up jobs seeking higher alternatives. Much like their office-based friends, frontline staff cite higher pay, work-life steadiness, advantages, and suppleness as high causes for contemplating a job change. Data from LinkedIn discovered that of the eight industries Microsoft surveyed, seven have now exceeded pre-pandemic hiring ranges.
Despite the challenges dealing with frontline staff, a lot of these surveyed stay optimistic that know-how can enhance their day-to-day expertise on the job. When requested what may assist scale back employee stress, know-how ranked behind pay and PTO and forward of wellbeing advantages. Furthermore, 63% mentioned they’re excited in regards to the job alternatives know-how has created.
“There’s unprecedented stress and [Microsoft] believes that you could actually do better by prioritizing [frontline] employees,” Spataro mentioned. “In other words, we would say that a strong frontline means a better bottom line. We think that aligning the business with the needs of employees is actually going to produce not only happier, better employees, but really better business outcomes.”
Along with general optimism, many respondents cited technology-related considerations: 46% mentioned they concern job loss if they do not adapt to new tech, and 55% mentioned they needed to study to make use of new applied sciences at work with out being given formal coaching.
Ashenden mentioned {that a} main difficulty is that tech innovation over the previous 20 years has largely centered on desk-based staff, particularly on the subject of productiveness and collaboration. As a end result, frontline staff’ instruments haven’t advanced and are sometimes out-dated.
“Some businesses get around this by cobbling together technologies themselves or trying to adapt technologies designed for desk-based workers,” she said, “but it’s only now that we’re seeing focused investment by major tech players like Microsoft to provide tailored, off-the-shelf solutions that are specifically designed for this group of workers.
“The increased awareness and understanding that the pandemic brought about has reinforced the appetite for businesses to invest in these solutions.”
Productivity and the role of Microsoft Teams
While conducting the survey, Microsoft looked at productivity patterns and how Microsoft Teams is increasingly being used as a communication hub. Telemetry data shows that between March 2020 and November 2021, the monthly use of Microsoft Teams on the frontline grew 400%.
Although platforms like Teams were not necessarily developed with frontline workers in mind, many non-desk-based employees use tools traditionally seen in the office. For example, remote assistance applications allow workers to provide support to customers and partners without actually being in person, and virtual meeting technology lets sales people stay connected with customers — even accelerating sales cycles by allowing them to do more customer calls each day.
As for worker concerns about training, Ashenden said that’s not a problem just for frontline workers. “There’s often an assumption that the tools are intuitive enough that people will work out for themselves how to use them, or that they will learn from their peers,” she said. “In practice, this means that the organization will struggle to get the full value from the technology through a lack of process and consistency.
“It also risks employees getting frustrated and, therefore, adoption is limited. This is when you end up with employees looking for other, ‘better’ alternatives, which they consider better meet their needs more effectively, and application fragmentation worsens.”
With that in thoughts, Microsoft this week introduced updates to its Viva and Microsoft Teams platforms focused at frontline roles.
The Microsoft Teams Walkie Talkie app will now be obtainable on Zebra, Crosscall and, HMD Global’s Nokia gadgets, permitting staff to have a high-tech, push-to-talk walkie talkies, whatever the gadget they’re utilizing.
Microsoft additionally added digital appointments in Teams, offering real-time updates on wait instances, missed appointments, and staffing delays.
The Viva Connections app in Microsoft Teams now has integrations with strategic companions like Workday and Expressive, permitting simpler entry to vital sources and placing payroll and HR sources in a single location. And updates to the Viva Learning app allow frontline staff to find, share, and observe studying content material inside Teams for extra constant coaching throughout the office.
Ashenden mentioned it is vital that Microsoft sees frontline staff as a strategic group in its product improvement technique, not only a one-off alternative.
“We’ve seen that with the trickle of new features for this audience over the last couple of years, not just in Teams but also in Dynamics 365 applications, and the investment in the Work Index research to understand frontline worker sentiment…,” she mentioned.
“It’s nice to see the Viva product crew now addressing this group, as nicely,” Ashenden mentioned. “Microsoft’s strategy with all these instruments is to allow companies to implement one resolution for each kind of employee — data employee or frontline — constructing in tailor-made experiences and options to help the completely different teams. This helps keep away from the technical divide between frontline staff and data staff, particularly on the subject of connecting, speaking and data sharing throughout the group.”