Technology had enabled remote work during the pandemic years. As organizations find answers to making hybrid work work, Microsoft partners have the opportunity to help customers do it right.

“Hybrid is not the future, it is now,” Lynn Dang, HR Leader for Microsoft Singapore and Vietnam highlighted at the Microsoft APAC Boardroom Series for Partners: Chief Human Resources Officers – designed to equip partners to engage “across every room in the house” of our customers’ organizations.

However, two-thirds (62%) of employees are considering a switch to hybrid or remote work, while 62% of leaders are looking to bring employees back to the office full-time – according to the 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index (SEA). This presents a conundrum for Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) – how can they create a workplace that is ready for hybrid work, and in turn contribute to employee retention?

Adding to this, is what can only be described as one of the strangest recessions the world has ever seen: business leaders must contend with rising inflation, shrinking budgets, and paradoxically, a talent marketplace that remains incredibly tight.

Now more than ever, it’s the job of every leader to balance employee interests with the success of the organization, aligning everyone around the most impactful work. Kingsley Starling, Head of Modern Workplace at Avanade ASEAN sees this alignment among organizations he speaks to, “It comes as no surprise that employee experience and people are now consistently top of mind among business leaders and decision makers.”

For example, a lack of learning and development opportunities was hampering Music Tribe’s ability to retain and grow talent. They turned to Avanade and built a dedicated employee experience platform – built using Microsoft Viva Learning – that created an ecosystem for upskilling, knowledge sharing and workflow optimization. In just a month, Music Tribe experienced an 80% leap in Tribers actively engaging with learning content.

Building a culture ready for hybrid work

Dang feels that building a culture that embraces flexibility, inclusivity and trust is key, and that leaders will need to lead with empathy, especially in today’s work environment whereby employees have a new “worth it” equation.

“We recognize that talents have prioritized their lives, and when they are returning to the office, they are seeking to create purpose,” said Dang.

It is this shift in employees’ mentality and the demand for flexibility that has Dang and fellow CHROs thinking about how to better engage employees as “people are key to business success.”

Building a seamless employee experience that is inclusive and offers flexibility in addressing how employees work from anywhere has become a focus for CHROs. As employees seek purpose and are more in tune with their wellbeing, CHROs will need to explore ways to engage their on-site or distributed workforce who have adopted new approaches to collaboration.

Technology has been a great enabler for hybrid work, especially for collaboration, but Dang also highlights the importance of using technology for insights and improvements. For example, how can managers rely on data to glean insights on employees’ wellbeing, identify blind spots, or to help with reskilling at scale.

Download the 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index (SEA) to learn more.

Having a ready culture and suitable technology is also important to end the “productivity paranoia”, shared Raj Singh, Go-to-Market Lead for Viva and Teams Apps, Microsoft APAC. The 2022 Microsoft Work Trend Index (SEA) highlighted that 87% of employees are reporting that they are productive at work, but 85% of leaders say it’s challenging to have confidence that people are being productive.

What is concerning that the access to technology has also led to an “always-on” mentality with flexible work, where a third productivity peak has emerged in the hours before bedtime, and there is more than 250% increase in weekly meeting time for an average Teams user since March 2020. This is not sustainable in the long run, as employee burnout can translate to huge losses for a company in terms of lost productivity or attrition over time, shared Dang.

Catering to generational shifts

Besides the changes that have been brought about by hybrid work, millennials and Gen Zs are changing the workforce. Many of them are digital natives and are already adept to using technology.

However, there is underlying tension with bringing Gen X, millennials, and Gen Zs on the same page when it comes to work, and creating culture, processes and technology that is inclusive to all three generations of workstyles becomes critical.

Dang feels that having the right employee experience strategy is crucial, and this extends beyond technology. Leaders must now make the office worth the commute, as employees are coming into office for in-person connections and to make up for lost social time during the pandemic. This means deliberate design of workspaces which facilitates in-person collaboration, events – not just events that can be done remotely.

Helping CHROs build an employee experience strategy

“Employee experience was talked about like a support function, but there’s no better time than now for CHROs to be brought in for more strategic decisions,” shared Dang.

And just like with any digital transformation projects, having the right data and insights can be a difference maker for CHROs. As such, Dang recommends partners to advise CHROs to adopt a dynamic and flexible approach with technology, especially how it can be a fit within the organizational culture.

“We are having conversations with organizations where they are trying to understand what data can be brought into a single consolidated view, and how it can be translated into action,” said Starling.

He cited an instance where HR teams are meeting KPIs on a surface level based on employee surveys results but failed to notice red flags pertaining to employee dissatisfaction when the data is further dissected.

Dang noted that there are other forms of insights such as people analytics and ambient listening data that can help CHROs keep a better pulse of employee sentiments. With data, HR functions can take a more proactive approach in predicting potential attrition and take corrective action before it happens.

People must be at the center when creating an effective employee experience strategy. And partners have an opportunity to bring the data and insights to HR teams, managers and even employees to help them make actionable decisions about their career growth. In addition, Starling suggests that partners explore opportunities in supporting organizations’ change management efforts beyond pushing for modernization of HR technology and platforms.

Why Microsoft

As an integrated employee experience platform, Microsoft Viva helps businesses transform and modernise how they engage their employees – from connection to insights – in empowering individuals to understand their purpose and have clarity of their goals.

According to a Forrester Total Economic Impact Study commissioned by Microsoft, Microsoft Viva has helped organizations create a return of investment of 327% and helped to reduce time-to-full productivity by 50%.

This presents a huge opportunity for partners who have an employee experience practice, or looking to expand opportunities to attach Microsoft Viva on top of existing productivity and collaboration services.

Top tips from panellists on engaging CHROs

1. Hybrid work continues to evolve, and there may not be a ready solution to address all problems.

2. Act as a trusted adviser to CHROs and recognise that it is not just a technology conversation.

3. Actionable data and insights are important to CHROs.

Learn more from the Microsoft APAC Partner Boardroom Series for Partners: CHROs here.

If you missed the Microsoft APAC Partner Boardroom Series for Partners: CFOs session you still have the opportunity to learn from it on-demand here. Also available are the CHROs and CISOs session.

Who should attend? Anyone – sales, technical and marketing – who wants to understand CHRO, CFO and CISO priorities and challenges and boardroom conversations on employee experience, modern finance and security, and learn how to engage/have connected discussions with these new breeds of technology buyers/decision makers.