Microsoft Viva will add Copilot generative AI features for better employee productivity

Microsoft continues to add generative AI features to its many services. In March, the company revealed Microsoft 365 Copilot, which will assist users of its various Office apps with helping to write documents and spreadsheets. Today, Microsoft announced another version of Copilot, this time for its Microsoft Viva employee engagement platform.

In a blog post, the company said that Copilot in Microsoft Viva will “give leaders an entirely new way to understand and engage their workforce.”One part of Viva is Goals, which gives employees a clearer sense of the company’s objectives. Here’s how the new Copilot feature will work in Goals

Copilot in Microsoft Viva Goals simplifies goal setting by guiding leaders through the process of creating objectives and key results (OKRs) as well as simplifying goal management across the organization. Copilot can suggest draft OKR recommendations based on existing Word documents, such as an annual business plan or a product strategy paper. Once created, Copilot saves employees time by summarizing the status of OKRs, identifying blockers, and suggesting next steps. Lastly, Copilot can consolidate existing data to generate more comprehensive check-ins so teams can leverage a breadth of knowledge across different sources of truth.

There will also be a Copilot element to another section of Microsoft Viva, called Viva Engage. Engage is basically a social network customized for each business. Here’s how Copilot will work with Engage:

Copilot in Microsoft Viva Engage helps leaders create compelling and inspiring posts from simple prompts or trending topics within workplace communities and storyline conversations. Copilot offers suggestions to personalize messages with options to adjust tone and length and to suggest relevant images, all to help drive authenticity and engagement. Further, leaders can utilize Copilot to analyze engagement metrics, assess sentiment, and recommend responses.

Copilot in Microsoft Viva will begin rolling out to Viva customers sometime later in 2023.