Microsoft popularizes Walkie-Talkie functionality in Teams

Over the past two years, the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the digital transformation of many industries, forcing employees to change their work habits and rely on video conferencing and collaboration software to get their jobs done. But this transformation did not occupy all sectors and all fields. That’s the case for frontline workers, 41% of whom don’t have access to the technology they need, Microsoft’s latest Business Trends Index special report shows. on Frontline Workers.” This global survey of 9,600 frontline workers in eight countries and eight industries who cannot work remotely is intended to serve as a guide to helping business leaders advance their work environments.

At a briefing last week, Jared Spataro, the company’s vice president of modern work at Microsoft, said that while the company has so far focused its efforts more on “knowledge workers,” the company now wanted to expand it to field workers. It must be said that these represent more than 80% of the global workforce, or about 2 billion people. “At Microsoft, our mission goes beyond knowledge workers. We really want everyone in every company and everywhere to be able to do more things with our products,” Spataro said.

hovering specter of great resignation

“This consideration is important, as technology has been a major asset for frontline workers during the pandemic,” said Angela Ashinden, senior workplace transformation analyst at CCS Insight. “The pandemic has exposed how important these workers are to their businesses,” she added. “It is often thanks to them that companies have been able to continue operating, and often also bear the brunt of the epidemic from a business point of view, either because they were unable to work remotely, or because they were more exposed to the virus in their course of work.” People-facing workers are prominent in retail, manufacturing, hospitality, and healthcare.

Microsoft’s survey highlighted many challenges, but one of the biggest is balancing employee well-being with business. 51% of survey respondents said people in non-management positions on the front lines do not feel valued, and 58% said work-related stress will continue or even get worse in 2022. Those whose businesses depend on frontline workers are not immune to chain resignations . A record number of employees decided to quit their jobs to find better opportunities. Like their fellow office workers, among the main reasons for changing jobs, frontline workers cite better pay, better work-life balance, better benefits, and greater flexibility. According to data from LinkedIn, of the eight sectors surveyed by Microsoft, in seven of them, there are more vacancies today than there were before the pandemic.

Questions about the contribution of technologies

Despite the challenges these workers face, many respondents are optimistic about the improvements technology can bring to their daily work. When asked what can help reduce worker stress, technology comes second, after salary and leave, and before benefits. In addition, 63% of respondents said they are very interested in the job opportunities that technology offers. “The stress that these frontline workers are experiencing is unprecedented, and Microsoft believes that companies would benefit from prioritizing this group of employees,” Spataro said. In other words, you could say that a strong frontline means a better outcome. We believe that by aligning with the needs of employees, a company can not only improve their well-being and make work more efficient, but also achieve better business results.

However, despite this general optimism, a large number of respondents expressed concerns about technology: 46% said they fear losing their jobs if they do not adapt to new technologies, and 55% said they should learn to use new technologies at work. without receiving formal training. According to Ms. Ashenden, one of the key issues is that technological innovation over the past 20 years has focused heavily on office workers, particularly when it comes to productivity and collaboration. As a result, tools for frontline workers are underdeveloped and often outdated. “Some companies get around this by messing with the technology itself or trying to adapt technology designed for office workers,” she said. “But it is only now that major tech companies like Microsoft are starting to invest in a targeted way to deliver custom and uncommon solutions tailored to this group of workers. The growing awareness and understanding of the pandemic has increased companies’ willingness to invest in these solutions,” she added.

Generalized Walkie-Talkie in Microsoft Teams

While conducting the survey, Microsoft looked at productivity patterns and the increasingly common use of Teams as a call center. Telemetry data showed that between March 2020 and November 2021, monthly team usage in the field increased by 400%. While platforms like Teams weren’t necessarily developed with first-line workers in mind, many out-of-office workers also rely on tools traditionally used in the office. For example, remote support applications provide workers with assistance to customers and partners without being in person, and virtual meeting technology allows salespeople to stay in touch with customers and even speed up sales cycles by allowing them to make more customer calls per day.

With that in mind, last week Microsoft announced updates to its Viva and Microsoft Teams platforms designed specifically for frontline workers. Teams Walkie-Talkie will now be available on Nokia devices from Zebra, Crosscall and HMD Global, so workers will have a high-tech walkie-talkie, in push-to-talk mode, no matter what device they’re using. Microsoft has also added virtual appointments in Teams, with real-time updates of wait times, missed appointments, and employee delays. The Viva Connections app from Microsoft Teams is now integrated with strategic partners like Workday and Expressive, making it easy to access critical resources and integrating payroll and HR resources in one place. Finally, updates to the Viva Learning app give frontline employees the ability to discover, share and track training content in Teams to make training more consistent in the workplace.