By Katie Deighton
Microsoft Corp. is developing an update to its Teams package of
workplace collaboration tools to replace one of the less-mourned
losses of pandemic living: the commute to and from work.
The daily commute may have caused its share of headaches, but it
at least helped workers define a start and end to their workday
while offering a set time to think away from the demands and
distractions of the home and office. That positive side of the
commute is what Microsoft hopes to re-create.
The Teams update next year will let users schedule virtual
commutes at the beginning and end of each shift. Instead of
reliving 8 a.m. or 6 p.m. packed subway rides or highway traffic
jams in virtual reality, users will be prompted by the platform to
set goals in the morning and reflect on the day in the evening.
The virtual commute feature represents Teams' move into employee
wellness, said Kamal Janardhan, general manager for workplace
analytics and MyAnalytics at Microsoft 365, the parent division of
Teams. The company historically has focused on employee
connectivity and productivity.
"Enterprises across the world right now are coming to us and
saying, 'I don't think we will have organizational resilience if we
don't make well-being a priority,'" Ms. Janardhan said. "I think we
at Microsoft have a role, almost a responsibility, to give
enterprises the capabilities to create these better daily
structures and help people be their best."
The introduction of virtual commutes comes as Microsoft looks to
make its Teams product more useful as rival services like Zoom gain
traction among companies that want to keep their remote workforce
connected. The past six months have seen Microsoft announce
multiple updates that aim to ease the pain of working from home,
including a function to reduce household background sounds on video
calls.
The virtual commute feature is designed to help people mark the
start and end of their working day, a more difficult prospect for
those working at home. Half of the chat volume on Teams occurred
between 5 p.m. and midnight in the past six months, up 48% from the
months before the pandemic, according to Microsoft.
And even though getting to work wasn't a notably cherished part
of pre-lockdown life, a 2001 study suggested that most people would
choose to commute even if they were given the option to give up the
journey.
"I don't miss my commute per se," said Adam Clenton, a
London-based lawyer who spent 80 minutes commuting each day before
his office closed during the pandemic. "But it did give me the
chance to switch off on the way home. It helped demarcate the day
in a way that isn't possible now."
Teams' morning commute experience hasn't been finalized, but
will involve asking users to write a short list of things they want
to accomplish that day, Ms. Janardhan said. It also will ask how
users are feeling before they start work. If they say they are
feeling overwhelmed, the virtual commute assistant will ask if they
want to block time off in their calendars to focus on work or
de-stress.
The virtual commute home will present users with their list of
tasks for the day, and ask them to move uncompleted jobs to the
next day's list. The system celebrates completed tasks with
messages such as "Way to go!"
It then asks users to describe how the day went by selecting one
of five facial expressions ranging from elated to frustrated.
The evening experience relies on one-click options because
anything that feels like more cognitive effort would make people
less likely to complete it -- particularly at the end of the day,
Ms. Janardhan said. It ends in an optional 10-minute guided
meditation produced by Headspace, the mindfulness and meditation
app.
Microsoft plans to further develop the product after launch, Ms.
Janardhan said, perhaps letting users recommend books and podcasts
to their virtually commuting colleagues to make it a group
experience and facilitate more watercooler-style chat the next
day.
But it is the technology's ability to simply indicate the start
and end of a shift that will help employees most, said Julia Lee
Cunningham, an assistant professor of management and organizations
at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of
Business.
"I can imagine how this might influence not only their job
satisfaction, but also their overall life satisfaction during the
pandemic," she said.
Others are skeptical about the technology's ability to help
people log off because of its very nature: It is still
technology.
"The meditation idea is excellent, but I wonder if the ticking
off of tasks would still keep us in work mode too much," said
Daniel Cable, a professor of organizational behavior at London
Business School. "I think a lot of people would just try to finish
off that one last email, or make that last call, or that last
search."
Swapping the laptop for analog activities like exercise is the
best way to effectively switch off, Mr. Cable said.
That's the same conclusion that Mr. Clenton, the London
attorney, has reached after six months of remote working.
"I'd much rather mark the beginnings and ends of my days by
physically being outside or doing something else," he said, "rather
than being sat at the same screen I'm working at every single hour
of every day."
Write to Katie Deighton at katie.deighton@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 29, 2020 06:14 ET (10:14 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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