
Schedule super quick meetings just to check in with colleagues. Read more. And try to fit “moments of transition” into your daily schedule.
Those are some tips from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella to help manage well-being with the new WFH lifestyle.
Nadella spoke this week at the Wall Street Journal’s CEO Council. He said he’s focused on three major considerations of how the nature is work is changing amid the pandemic: how collaboration happens, how learning happens inside companies, and how to ensure employees aren’t burning out.
The last point has become even more important over the past several months as workers conduct multiple meetings per day via video and don’t have the same interactions with colleagues at a physical office. Microsoft studies show that people are now working after hours and on weekends more frequently, and that remote work is leading to more stress and mental fatigue.
Nadella said people can get more tired because of the concentration required during video calls. That’s why Microsoft earlier this summer rolled out the new Microsoft Teams “Together” mode, a feature for video meetings that places participants against a shared virtual background, out of the traditional grid view, to help create the perception of sitting together.
Nadella also called out the new “virtual commute” feature for Teams, which uses automation tech to help users close out tasks and designate work for the following day, log their sentiment about the work day, and direct them into a guided meditation process. Microsoft said its research finds that the blurred lines between work and home are hurting remote workers’ feelings of well-being.
Whether it’s the bus ride to and from work, or even walking down a hallway for your next meeting, there are fewer “transition times”