Employee morale and retention are hot topics for employers, that in the midst of work from home orders face a wave of statistics that demonstrate their employees are so disengaged, they are looking for new employment. Microsoft’s 2021 Work Trend Index stated that in comparison to the last two years, employees’ job switching intent has doubled in 2021, with 46% of the workforce planning a move.

This presents employers with a dual challenge;

• How to facilitate engagement using tools and platforms
• The provision of the content itself, that will boost morale and aid retention

Microsoft rolled out Viva Connections in March 2021 as a single, fully integrated digital home to help connect employees to their colleagues, their leadership teams and their organsiation as a whole.

Research from Workplace has reported 90% of deskless or mobile workers want an integrated communications platform would enable them to better engage with a management. Office 365 has provided communicators with a huge toolkit of communications tools that meet this end.

• Two-way communications are possible via chat in Microsoft Teams, Yammer and SharePoint. Emojis, GIFs and likes are available for those that prefer symbols to words.
• Broadcast is enabled through Town Halls, the video of which can be consumed in Stream, Yammer, Teams or SharePoint and can facilitate Live and post-event dialogue between employers and employees.
• Content that might be produced in one channel, can be shared in another. For example, SharePoint news articles can be posted in Outlook or Teams.
• Microsoft Viva has been launched this year, which provides a personalised experience for published content, in both the SharePoint and Microsoft interfaces.

But this is only half the story, the content that an organisation provides employees with is what determines their ability to boost morale and retain their employees. This requires sorting what an employee needs to do their job, from operational communications and strategic communications. This content then needs to be delivered at the right time to employees, in the right channel, rather than employers expecting employees to search for it.

Viva Connections revolutionises access to tools and applications and allows for communications teams to deliver the right content, at the right time to their employees, no matter where they are working.

Content that supports productivity should be shared while an employee is working. Presently this, in many organisations, should manifest in Microsoft Teams, where files, supporting process information and conversations with colleagues can all be found in the same place.

This is in contrast to operational communications that will be specific to my role and strategic communications about the organisation’s purpose and values.

AddIn365’s Content Distribution Model (CDM) package helps communications teams to design their content model in order to communicate the right information at the right time, in the right format, to employees as individuals.

With content supporting work and content supporting emotional buy-in to the organisations purpose, morale is statistically boosted and employee retention is increased. Deloitte recently found that a more inclusive culture is likely to retain a massive 72% of employees.

AddIn365 helps organisations to maximise their return on investment in the Office 365 platform by enabling employees to work efficiently, using the right applications and functions of Office 365.

To discover how AddIn365 and Microsoft Viva Connections can optimise your internal communications strategy visit our Viva Connections dedicated website here or enquire about our Content Distribution Model Workshops by clicking the button.