Microsoft is launching Copilot in Microsoft Viva to improve employee engagement and performance with artificial intelligence and insights.
Last month, Microsoft introduced Microsoft 365 Copilot, followed by Copilot in Viva Sales a week later.
The next-generation AI will begin rolling out to Microsoft Viva customers later this year, combining large language models (LLMs) with company data in Microsoft Graph and Viva apps to give leaders a new means of engaging with their workforce.
Copilot will also come to the newly adopted “voice of the employee” solution, Viva Glint, providing team managers with summaries and analysis of thousands of employee comments, which they can explore with questions using natural language.
Kirk Koenigsbauer, Corporate Vice President for Microsoft 365, said: “In today’s fast-paced business world, employee productivity is seen as key to driving performance—and that’s certainly true.
“But it’s important to remember that productivity alone cannot lead to sustained success.
“In fact, relying solely on productivity stifles creativity, limits teamwork, and increases employee burnout.
“Our latest research reveals the most successful organizations are those that prioritize both productivity and employee engagement—businesses with an engaged workforce performed twice as well financially compared to those with a disengaged workforce.”
Microsoft’s research suggests, therefore, that by implementing Copilot in Microsoft Viva, organisations stand to improve employee engagement and productivity, which will lead them to better business outcomes.
Copilot in Microsoft Viva Goals simplifies goal setting and management for leaders. It can draft objectives and key results (OKRs) based on business plans, strategy papers, and more.
The AI technology also saves employees time by summarising OKR statuses, finding blockers, and offering the next steps.
Copilot also helps Viva Goals users by consolidating data to create comprehensive check-ins, enabling teams to access knowledge from disparate sources.
Microsoft’s 2023 State of the Goal Setting Report found that 50 percent of practitioners surveyed said that greater goal clarity gives them more motivation and a greater sense of purpose. Only 39 percent of practitioners understand organisational goals, however, opening the door to solutions such as Copilot.
Its research also suggests that high-performing businesses benefit from good leadership engagement and communication with employees.
Copilot in Microsoft Viva Engage helps organisations to improve leadership engagement and employee communications by creating posts from prompts or topics within workplace communities and conversations.
It also assists in the personalisation of messages with tonal and length customisation options to recommend images, which, in turn, increases authenticity and engagement.
Leaders can also use Copilot to analyse engagement metrics, view sentiment, and suggest responses.
Helping to enable effective communications, Copilot in Microsoft Viva Topics allows employees to use a conversational interface to find out about key topics, as well as related topics and projects.
Copilot in Answers aids users in question creation and categorises the question by extracting the appropriate topics.
It also supports experts to produce answers by citing the necessary references and resources.
Koenigsbauer also provided support for Viva Glint: “Our research also suggests that the most successful organizations are those that embrace a model of continuous data-driven analytics and insights to drive improvements in organizational productivity and workforce engagement.
“However, 75 percent of employees (and 80 percent of managers) think their company does not solicit feedback often enough.”
Viva Glint, which helps businesses to measure and improve employee engagement, is set to join the Viva Suite in July 2023.
Copilot will also come to Viva Glint, providing summaries of employee comments, ways for leaders to explore their feedback, and aggregate employee engagement data alongside data from Viva Insights and Microsoft Graph.
