As a business leader, you know the challenges of fostering digital employee engagement in today’s modern workplace. With many organizations operating partially or fully remote, maintaining a strong company culture and sense of community has become increasingly difficult—but it’s also more important than ever.
In this evolving landscape of remote and hybrid work, organizations must adopt digital employee experience tools to keep employees engaged, connected, and motivated.
That’s where Microsoft Viva Engage (formerly Yammer) comes in—the best employee engagement tool for improving internal communication, leadership accessibility, and company culture.
What Is Employee Engagement and Why Is It Important?
Employee engagement refers to the level of enthusiasm, dedication, and connection an employee has towards their job and the organization they work for. You may think, “Sure, so employees enjoy their work, but why is employee engagement important from a business perspective?”
Decades of data show that accelerating employee engagement in the digital age drives measurable business results. Engaged employees are motivated, passionate, and often go above and beyond their basic job responsibilities to contribute to company goals.
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace research reports that engaged employees make a significant positive impact on a company’s performance, regardless of industry, company size, nationality, or economy.
However, only 3 in 10 U.S. employees are engaged. This staggering statistic underscores the critical need for digital employee engagement solutions. To further emphasize its importance, let’s look at the ROI of employee engagement initiatives.
ROI of Employee Engagement
- Increases Profitability: Engaged employees are more productive, which has a direct impact on the bottom line. According to Gallup, companies with highly engaged employees see a 23% increase in profitability.
- Improves Retention: There’s an undeniable correlation between employee engagement and employee retention. Organizations with high levels of employee engagement experience a 21-51% reduction in turnover.
- Increases Quality of Work: Gallup found that highly engaged teams experience 41% fewer quality defects, drastically reducing the cost of rework, delays, and wasted resources.
- Stronger Customer Loyalty and Engagement: Engaged employees deliver better customer experiences, resulting in a 10% increase in customer loyalty and engagement.
- Reduces Absenteeism: Disengaged employees often feel undervalued and disconnected, resulting in more absences. Gallup’s research found that highly engaged teams experience 81% less absenteeism, reducing workplace disruptions and productivity loss.
To put it simply, employee engagement isn’t just a feel-good initiative—it’s a strategic business advantage. Considering the ROI of employee engagement, an investment in an employee engagement solution is well worth it.
Next, we share the best employee engagement solution on the market.
What Is Microsoft Viva Engage?
Microsoft Viva Engage is an employee communication tool within the Microsoft Viva suite—an employee experience platform seamlessly integrated within Microsoft 365 and Teams. Chances are, you already have access to Viva Engage as part of your Office 365 or Microsoft 365 licensing.
Viva Engage is designed to improve employee engagement through meaningful connections, shared interests, and open conversations. It helps break down silos, making it easier for employees to connect across teams, departments, and leadership levels.
Key Features of the Best Employee Engagement Solution
As a Microsoft Partner, we may be biased, but at C5 Insight, we believe that Viva Engage is the best employee engagement solution. Given its seamless integration with Microsoft 365 modern workplace tools like Teams and the larger suite of Viva products, it can be extended to provide even more positive returns.
While this is not a comprehensive list of Viva Engage features, we’re highlighting some of the most useful and beneficial ones.
Communities: Build Connections Beyond Work
Microsoft Viva Engage Communities are dedicated spaces where employees can discuss topics, share knowledge, collaborate, and start conversations. Think of these as ‘interests’ and not necessarily ‘work’ communities, helping employees feel more connected and fostering a sense of belonging.
Use Cases:
- Wellness Initiatives: Organizations can create health and wellness communities where employees share fitness tips, participate in step challenges, or exchange mindfulness resources.
- Leadership Transparency: A Leadership Community bridges the gap between leadership and employees by providing a platform for leaders to share company vision, host Q&As, and keep employees informed about strategic initiatives.
- Employee Recognition: At C5 Insight, we have a community called “Cheers for Peers” where anyone can publicly acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and efforts of their colleagues.
Q&A and Best Answers: Crowdsource Knowledge Across the Organization
One of the standout features of Viva Engage is its ability to crowdsource knowledge and make expertise easily accessible across an organization. Instead of employees repeatedly asking the same questions through email or chat, the Q&A feature allows users to post inquiries in relevant communities, ensuring responses are available to everyone.
Use Cases:
- Employee Onboarding Support: New hires can post questions about company policies, IT setup, or internal processes. Rather than waiting for a direct response, they can browse previously answered questions.
- Industry and Product Expertise: Sales and customer support teams can quickly ask for product insights or competitive intelligence, gathering expertise from different regions or departments.
- Continuous Learning & Best Practices: Employees can contribute answers to “How do we…” questions, building a living knowledge base that improves efficiency across the company.
Over time, these interactions contribute to a comprehensive knowledge library that is easily accessible to all employees, serving as a valuable resource for future reference.
Announcements: Keep Employees Informed and Aligned
With Announcements, community administrators can share important updates that notify employees within Viva Engage and email, ensuring that important messages are seen. These notifications help drive awareness and action on key initiatives.
Use Cases:
- Leadership Updates: Executives can send company-wide messages about strategy shifts, organizational changes, or business wins.
- HR and Policy Updates: HR teams can use Announcements to share policy changes, upcoming wellness programs, or benefits enrollment deadlines.
- Crisis Communication: In times of urgent announcements, such as office closures or cybersecurity alerts, Announcements ensure immediate visibility across the organization.
Storylines: Share Personal Updates
The Storyline feature enables employees to share personal updates, project wins, and thought leadership in a way that extends beyond traditional work updates. Employees can post in a social-media-style feed that’s visible within Viva Engage, Teams, Outlook, and Viva Connections.
Use Cases:
- Showcase Work & Achievements: Employees can highlight project milestones, completed certifications, or innovative ideas to build their personal brand within the company.
- Encourage Cross-Team Collaboration: Storyline posts can surface new initiatives, challenges, or open discussions, helping employees find relevant colleagues to collaborate with.
- Amplify Employee Voices: Leaders and employees alike can share their perspectives on workplace culture, values, and company initiatives, fostering a more inclusive environment.
Home Feed: A Centralized, Personalized Hub
The Home Feed is a curated view of recent activity across communities and Storylines. It relies on algorithms to determine which posts are most relevant to a user, so everyone’s home feed looks different. Employees can see updates from leadership, trending conversations, posts from coworkers they follow, and important company news—all in one place.
Use Cases:
- Engage Across Departments: The feed surfaces relevant content posted by admins and coworkers, allowing employees to participate in personal and company-wide conversations.
- Discover Useful Content: AI-driven recommendations highlight trending topics, frequently asked questions, and relevant posts based on an employee’s interests and role.
- Reduce Email Overload: Instead of relying on mass email communication, employees can check their Home Feed to read key posts and new company updates.
By leveraging these Viva Engage features, organizations are able to create thriving digital workplace environments where employees feel connected, valued, and motivated.
If you’re already invested in other Microsoft modern workplace tools, implementing Microsoft Viva Engage to increase digital employee engagement should be an easy decision.
Partner with Microsoft Modern Workplace Employee Engagement Consultants
Investing in employee engagement solutions doesn’t just boost morale; it directly impacts business performance. By prioritizing a people-centric modern workplace, supported by the right tools like Microsoft Viva Engage, employees don’t just show up—they engage, innovate, and thrive.
Don’t let disengagement hold your business back. Whether you’re looking to strengthen internal communication, bridge the gap between leadership and employees, or break down organizational silos, Viva Engage is the digital employee engagement platform you need.
Contact the employee engagement consultants at C5 Insight to start engaging digital employees and driving business results with Viva Engage today.