The platform provides new tools for employee engagement, learning, wellbeing and knowledge discovery
Building 92 at Microsoft Corporation headquarters in Redmond, Washington. (Credit: Coolcaesar/Wikipedia)
Technology giant Microsoft has introduced a new employee experience platform Viva, amid a shift to an increasingly distributed and digital work environment.
The platform makes available new tools directly into the flow of people’s work for employee engagement, learning, wellbeing and knowledge discovery.
Microsoft said that the platform launch comes in the wake of significant changes in workforce engagement led by economic and social trends.
Built on the capabilities of Teams and Microsoft 365, Microsoft Viva allows companies to unify the employee experience across four key areas that include engagement, wellbeing, learning and knowledge.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said: “We have participated in the largest at-scale remote work experiment the world has seen, and it has had a dramatic impact on the employee experience.
“Every organization will require a unified employee experience from onboarding and collaboration to continuous learning and growth. Viva brings together everything an employee needs to be successful, from day one, in a single, integrated experience directly in Teams.”
The initial set of modules included in the platform are Viva Connections, Viva Insights, Viva Learning and Viva Topics.
Microsoft is also providing platform extensibility to allow customers to integrate their existing employee experience systems and tools with Viva.
Viva Connections is designed to provide a personalised gateway to digital workplace where internal communications and company resources are available for employee access.
Microsoft will launch the Connections app for Teams on desktop in public preview in the first half of 2021. A mobile app will be introduced later this year.
The Viva Insights module offers personalised and actionable insights for individuals, managers and leaders. Visible only to employee, personal experiences and insights are designed to help individuals protect time for regular breaks, focused work and learning.
For managers and leaders, the module provides trends at team and organisation level, as well as recommendations to balance productivity and wellbeing.
Viva Learning aggregates all the learning resources available to an organisation in one place, providing an access to training and professional development opportunities in the flow of work.
The Viva Topics module offers a knowledge discovery experience by enabling people connect to information and experts across the company.