Microsoft is aiming to tweak how employees present themselves in the digital workplace, aspiring to move beyond static job titles to a dynamic display of capabilities. According to a new entry on the Microsoft 365 Roadmap, the company is developing a feature that will allow users to list specific “People Skills” and professional attributes directly on their Microsoft 365 profile cards within Teams.
Currently, these cards serve as a digital directory, offering little more than a name, a department, and a hierarchy. The update, scheduled for release in March 2026 for both Windows and Mac users globally, intends to transform these passive identifiers into active signals of expertise.
This development is part of a broader suite of productivity enhancements designed to reduce friction in the daily workflow. Alongside the skills update, Microsoft is introducing the ability to save messages in chats to prevent the loss of critical information in fast-moving conversation streams, as well as configurable keyboard shortcuts that place frequently used symbols and icons at the user’s fingertips.
However, the skills profile update represents the most momentous shift in functionality.
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The Microsoft Teams Pivot to Employee Experience
For industry observers and enterprise buyers, this update signals Microsoft’s strategic encroachment into the booming Employee Experience (EX) market.
Historically, “skills data” has been locked away in heavy Human Resources Information Systems (HRIS) or external platforms like LinkedIn, disconnected from the daily rhythm of work. By embedding this data into the comms layer, Microsoft is possibly attempting to close the gap between “who we have” and “what they can do.”
This move acknowledges that, in a distributed, hybrid workforce, talent is often invisible. A marketing manager might possess advanced data visualization skills, or a sales representative might be fluent in a second language. However, without a mechanism to surface these assets, they are used only within their narrow job descriptions.
This integration suggests that Microsoft wants to expand Teams beyond its status as a collaboration and communication hub to become a primary interface for the “Skills-Based Organization.” This concept, heavily championed by management consultancies in recent years, argues for deconstructing jobs into tasks and matching them to skills rather than roles.
By placing skills visibility at the center of the user experience, Microsoft is providing the technological infrastructure necessary for this organizational shift. It potentially reduces reliance on rigid hierarchies and enables a more fluid, organic discovery of internal talent, effectively challenging standalone internal talent marketplaces by offering a solution already installed on the desktops of nearly every enterprise user.
Unearthing Value for the IT Leader With People Skills
For end users and line-of-business leaders, the practical applications of this feature could boost productivity and internal mobility.
Consider the perennial challenge of rapid project staffing. Rather than relying on word of mouth or formal HR requests to find a subject-matter expert, a project lead could simply scan profile cards to identify a colleague with the requisite technical proficiency. This reduces the time spent hunting for expertise and prevents the costly inefficiency of hiring external contractors for skills that already exist on the payroll. It creates a friction-free internal market where demand for a skill can be instantly met by supply.
Furthermore, this transparency has profound implications for mentorship and cultural cohesion. Junior employees, often isolated in remote working environments, could use the feature to identify senior leaders with specific soft skills or technical abilities they wish to develop, fostering organic mentorship connections that might otherwise never happen.
It also helps break down departmental silos, encouraging cross-functional collaboration based on shared interests and capabilities rather than on org charts. However, the success of this feature will ultimately depend on adoption and culture. Leadership must encourage teams to move beyond the “stay in your lane” mentality and embrace a culture where showcasing one’s full range of “People Skills” is seen as a contribution to the organization’s collective intelligence, rather than just personal branding.
