How a Microsoft team used SoWork to reduce employee turnover

The Problem

Distributed and completely disconnected from each other.

This is how Alice Ferng, Director of Innovation & Technology at Microsoft, used to describe her team.

Spread out across 4 countries and 5 timezones, teammates were isolated from each other day-to-day. Employees struggled with feelings of isolation and disconnection. Despite regular video calls and collaborative tools, something was missing.

This disconnection from their teammates and company culture resulted in a damaged team morale and job satisfaction. Alice found that not being able to easily have a casual chat with teammates hindered effective communication and collaboration. Meaningful connection felt impossible, engagement was suffering, and turnover was on the rise.

We realized our team’s engagement was suffering without the time we used to spend together working from a shared place.

Everyone felt isolated when we lost those impromptu hallway conversations, and the ability to be a part of what’s happening with your teammates day-to-day.

To get back to being a real team again, we desperately needed the remote solution to that...

The team tried to use their company’s flagship offering, Microsoft Teams. But Teams wasn’t creating the cohesive environment they were searching for. Alice went on a mission to find a solution.

The Solution

Alice found SoWork and realized what they'd been missing.

Just being together in SoWork immediately solved most of our problems.

SoWork unlocked the feeling of being beside each other. Just being able to see their teammates online, and knowing they could walk up to someone or join in on a meeting was an unexpected and powerful boost for their team's engagement.

Alice was blown away. She got to work customizing the office to represent her team's culture. And to her delight, her teammates joined in. They added their own touch to the office, their workspots, and their avatars, bringing their office to life.

Now, they felt like a real team. They could see each other, work beside each other, walk up to each other for informal conversations, and bond over quick games between meetings. Alice knew this was the solution they'd been looking for.

How The Team Uses SoWork

Alice and her team log into their virtual workspace every day and sit beside each other. They love being around each other, even if they're just working quietly.

Throughout the day, they use their SoWork office for team meetings, standups, 1:1s, socials, and breaks.

For us, it's super important that we take all of our meetings in SoWork.

We want everyone to know what's happening. That alone solves most engagement issues. We want people to easily join meetings they didn't know about, and to unlock those critical spontaneous collaboration moments that happen between meetings in SoWork.

If you take your meetings somewhere else, all of that benefit disappears. And team engagement goes with it.

SoWork Benefits

A More Connected Team

For the Microsoft team, just being together in SoWork made them feel like a team in the same room again. And once they were in the same room, they were able to benefit from the natural connection that is possible in SoWork.

Suddenly, they could bump into a colleague on a break. Wave hello to their manager from their desk. Join in on a game of Tank Wars between work. Or grab someone after a meeting to get help or start collaborating. Their remote team culture was at an all-time high.

SoWork feels more realistic and natural than anything else we've tried. And there's just something about it that unblocks my team's engagement and collaboration.

Seamless Collaboration

Something incredible happened once the Microsoft employees felt like they were on a real team again. Productivity soared.

When Alice looked at what was happening, she realized her team was getting two major needs met from SoWork. First, the one she'd originally gone out to find: natural, human connection. But the second surprised her. Because her team was unblocked, able to collaborate so naturally and easily in the SoWork environment, work was just... easier.

Teammates knew who was available, or when they'd be back. Meetings were as easy as walking up to someone, which counterintuitively reduced overall meeting time because quick questions or small issues could be solved right away. Everyone knew what meetings were happening, so they could join in if it was relevant to them. This eliminated all the catch-up meetings, and let employees move their work forward without blockers.

And with SoWork's powerful suite of productivity tools, including AI meeting summaries and analytics, Alice's team was saving time and getting the information they needed faster.

Basically, SoWork made my team feel energized, happy, and removed all the slowdown and clutter. All the 'work about work'. Now, we just do great work, together. It's hard to describe how refreshing that is.

Conclusion

SoWork made us a team again. It brought the humanity, spontaneity, and collaboration back into our work in a way nothing else could.

SoWork’s contribution to reducing turnover transformed the remote work experience for this Microsoft team.

By prioritizing human interactions and embracing the spontaneity of in-person office dynamics, Alice and her team felt closer than ever, ready to tackle big work goals together.