Exclusive: Microsoft Viva offers employee coaching with a little help from Maria Sharapova
Microsoft Viva, the employee experience platform, is announcing a new partnership today with BetterUp, a coaching platform, to help employees improve in four different focus areas: well-being, impact, leadership, and connection, the platforms told Fast Company exclusively.
Employees can access videos from luminaries such as Maria Sharapova, Michaela Coel, and therapist Lori Gottlieb as they meditate on lessons learned in the different subject areas, then take self-assessments to see how well they are doing. They then receive personalized tips on how to improve based on their results.
“We use evidence-based research with the hope of inspiring and guiding millions of people to reach their potential,” said BetterUp vice president Erik Darby.
Every month the content will reset, so employees will take new assessments and be able to measure their progress. BetterUp reports its users have seen a 149% increase in resilience scores, 94% in strategic planning, 80% in connection, and 79% in focus. The hope is to help employees excel at work and in their personal lives. According to research from BetterUp, employees with top well-being scores had fewer missed days at work and were five times more likely to be rated top performers.
“Companies can spend $300 billion a year on employee development, yet the tools are fragmented,” said Sunita Khatri, a senior director of product marketing at Microsoft. “Leaders are searching for a new approach to drive employee engagement.”
Starting next month, all Microsoft Viva users can access BetterUp from their Viva Digest emails. Additionally, this fall, BetterUp will launch an app in Microsoft Teams.
“For employees and organizations as a whole, the key to long-term success lies in fostering and developing the right mindsets, skills, and behaviors to achieve peak performance,” said Alexi Robichaux, cofounder and CEO of BetterUp. “Historically, companies have been limited in providing scalable solutions to grow and develop their entire workforce.”
Correction: This post was updated to correct a transcription error regarding how much companies were cited as spending on employee development. It’s $300 billion, not million.
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