Before the pandemic, stress and burnout were on the rise leading to challenges in employee wellbeing and engagement. However, more importantly, a somewhat quiet, yet incredibly impactful, sufferer was arising. Presenteeism. This is when people are working in a state where they are unable to give their best, physically or mentally. In 2018, Forbes stated the cost associated with presenteeism may be $150 to $255 billion a year. While estimates vary, it is something that has demonstrated an upward trend. Physical health conditions can lead to a common, and easier to measure, “cousin” absenteeism. However, presenteeism is less visible. It can be caused by conditions such as stress, fatigue, anxiety or depression, all of which have been elevated by COVID-19.

Q: Why the focus on energy?

“It was clear that if something was not done quickly, employees would end up burnt out as they were already feeling depleted and drained, presenting conditions ripe for increased presenteeism. It was also very clear that we needed a pulse. We needed to understand where people were at and how they were being impacted. At Microsoft, the lens of empathy is incredibly important to look at how we can support employees through the various seasons of their lives. And this season needed something a little different. Times had changed, and people had changed, therefore we had to look at how we could best respond to their needs, with the resources we had available.

The focus on energy and how to direct and elevate it was compelling, as it centered on how to increase capacity, an essential component in combating presenteeism. What was unique was that it was founded on the research-based discovery of a set of blockers to human capacity.”

WORK-LIFE HARMONY

“These programs take a whole human approach, which has great synergy with our company values as we see employees as the whole person.

Many of the techniques, all of which were founded in the science of how the mind works, applied to employees being able to cultivate positively energized lives, which enabled them to show up better for work.

This created several a-ha moments for attendees.”

DELIVERY EXPERIENCE 

“These times call for new ways of delivering development and innovative approaches to accelerate the speed of impact. With virtual events it can be hard, however, the Energy Booster felt just as impactful as if it was in-person.

The way the event was instructed felt like a group workout, but for the mind. It was high energy, fast paced, filled with a mix of curated self-assessment, techniques, and informative content. The experience measurably influenced people to pay attention and focus, rather than multitasking, demonstrating the power of the session to presenteeism.”

CHANGING BEHAVIORS

“Our own research has found that meting fatigue is very real. With more to think about on a daily basis, increased meetings, and worry about loved ones, employees have more on their mind.

To this end, the Energy Booster techniques are aligned to easily making mental and behavioral shifts, setting the foundation to create lasting, better habits.

For example, EMQ’s Meeting Calculator technique provided a very quick mental check that employees loved to help assess the impact and value of how they utilized time -- changing how they thought about their own time and their requests on others' time.”

AWARENESS AND PERSONALIZATION

“For the employees, it combined data-driven insights with precise remedies that could be very practically implemented into daily life. And it equipped our organization with information to better understand our employee needs on an emotional, behavioral, and mental level. These insights were used to create personalized programming at scale, something typically hard to do for these events.”

Q: How engaged were the employees?

“It was clear that every facet of the Energy Booster experience was intentionally designed to engage and maximize learning, even though virtual.

The participation levels were a significant indicator of employee demand for such programming and the feedback was clear. They wanted more. Employees were energized and excited to try out the techniques, requesting more tools, wanting to listen to the Booster content to help them throughout their day, and asking for the next one.

Using employee feedback to drive programming, based on a deeper view, is critical to the success of outcomes.”

Q: What was the continued impact?

“Traditionally, with self-development sessions, general information is presented that can be useful and some employees certainly leave inspired. However, life gets back to normal and the inspiration to change may not be acted upon, creating a challenge in how to continue the momentum and achieve the desired impact.

To combat this, the Energy Booster was curated to tend to the specific, real-time needs of the attendees, matching the techniques to exactly what was causing employees to feel depleted or drained. It was crafted in a way so that mental shifts occurred during the session, changing the way participants thought long after the event. Complementing this, each employee received their own workbook, with tailored content to address the source of their energy drain as well as all of the techniques covered, so that they could take it forward into their lives.”

“As we start to think about the future way of work, we have a huge opportunity to build it from the ground up. We can take what we have learned in the past, and the challenges we currently face, to design an employee experience that is even better.

It will be important to consider factors such as time-zones, inclusion, accessibility, and home-life, to name a few. Ensuring employees have access to the right resources they need to work effectively and efficiently, whatever the model of work looks like, will most certainly have a heavy bearing on innovation, engagement, collaboration and performance.

Social capital is more important than ever before. With working at home, creating offices people will want to come back to, and hybrid models to consider, the door is open to innovation and fresh ways of meeting employee needs, for which understanding how to create a positively energized work environment will be critical.

By providing employees with personal development like this, built on a clear understanding of their energy blockers, we can support the whole employee in showing up to life at full capacity.”

Brittany Valdez 

Community Engagement Manager
Microsoft 

“ A focus on assessing what is blocking an employee mentally and behaviorally, allowed employees to take productivity to a whole new level. This unique ability to accurately understand energy-blockers at an individual, team, and organizational level affords much more tailored programming opportunities that directly meets the current and future needs of employees.”