Pandemic-related burnout and difficulty separating work and
personal life has become a surprisingly common concern among Microsoft's
corporate customers, said Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela.
Millions of
employees now commute from their bed to a desk at home. After the initial
euphoria of skipping traffic jams and cramped train compartments, a new reality
has dawned in which the work day blends into the rest of life, like a
never-ending video call. Microsoft
has a solution for this.
The company’s Teams collaboration software is adding the ability to schedule a
“virtual
commute”. It won’t start your car, but it will remind users about the end
of the work day, suggest tasks to help workers wind down and create a little
mental space before kids’ homework, dinner, laundry and other obligations come
crashing in.
For example, Teams
will prompt users to list tasks as completed or add them to tomorrow’s to-do
list, while asking workers to rate how their day went and suggesting guided
meditation, through an integration with the Headspace app.
Pandemic-related
burnout and difficulty separating work and personal life has become a
surprisingly common concern among Microsoft’s corporate customers, according to
Chief Marketing Officer Chris Capossela. “The thing we didn’t predict that
we’ve learned is now at the top of customers’ mind is really the well-being of
their employees,” he said.
Companies
initially worried about employees having the right technology to work from
home. “Now it’s getting to be much more about ‘hey how do I know if an employee
is burned out, how do I know how they are doing — if they are working too
hard?’ All of the things around the emotional well-being or the mental health
of employees has risen to the top faster in a way that we didn’t really
predict,” he added.
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