This week, Microsoft took a significant step: Glint’s move from LinkedIn to Microsoft Viva, which developed what Microsoft calls “Employee Feedback On Workflow.”
Glint is one of the leading providers of employee listening and action platforms, competing with the likes of Medallia, Qualtrics, Peakon (owned by Workday), CultureAmp, and Perceptyx. These companies sell integrated survey, analytics, and employee listening platforms and store so much employee data that is used to find out what is really going on within the companies.
As I have written over the years, the employee listening market is growing rapidly. Once considered a cottage industry by industrial psychologists and survey tools (Gallup, Towers, and dozens of others are building these things), this market is now one of the hottest spaces in HR. Tech. Why? Because every single company tries to figure out how to better retain, attract, develop, and interact with its workers.
And the market has expanded. These systems not only give executives insight into the “Voice of the Employee,” they also serve as “platforms of action”. If you are unhappy with your manager or the floor operations at your retail store, you can now provide feedback and suggestions that go directly to line leadership. And leaders can get development tips, action plans, and elbows to help them improve behavior or specific programs.
For many years I saw it as a closed-loop system, one that should be as valuable as customer analytics to the business. After all, employees are not just “workers to keep satisfied.” In fact, they are the best “customer voice you have.” So if you know what your employees are doing, you know how your company is performing.
And employees have a lot more to add: if you review and listen to them carefully, they’ll give you suggestions, feedback, and important ideas that will improve your company. Witness the old -fashioned “suggestion box” I saw at IBM in the 1980s. Those anonymous “suggestions” often turn into billion-dollar ideas. You want to accept this kind of free flowing feedback and reach out to managers in the most direct way possible.
The Big Impact Of Microsoft Viva
Microsoft Viva is a set of tools (Viva Learning, Insights, Connections, Topics, and Ally.io) that any company can buy to handle all the messy and difficult things we do for employees. This suite, which was fast on the market when it launched in 2021, now covers IT and HR departments and is starting to change the HR market in big ways. If you use Microsoft Office, Teams, or Azure, it’s easy to license Viva, so you just need to “turn it on.” And when you do, all your employee communications become more exciting.
This month is the one-year anniversary of Viva’s existence and Microsoft already has 10 million paid users, 1,000 customers, and more than 300 enterprise-class integrated applications.
I won’t answer the full Viva story (you can read about it), but suffice it to say that Glint, which is one of the more advanced survey and listening platforms on the market, will be a perfect fit with Viva. (Microsoft also announced that they will do all of their internal employees listening to Glint.)
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Here are some of the implications.
First, companies that want end-to-end employee listening systems no longer need a new vendor. If they are a Microsoft shop they can get an enterprise survey and analytics platform that employees will use immediately.
Second, companies using Viva today will be able to match Viva Insights data (how long you spend in meetings, how productive you are) against direct employee feedback, engagement, and suggestion data. Data scientists reviewing Glint data will sit next to data scientists accessing Viva Insights data. They will begin to see what behaviors, meetings, and other activities drive employee retention, improve diversity, and contribute to well-being.
Third, it greatly improves the learning capabilities of Microsoft Viva. Glint is not only a survey and listening system, it also delivers action plans and development recommendations. For a year or so, I bet it will all be integrated into Viva Learning, making it easier than ever to “learn what you need to know” when employees are unhappy. The possibilities are endless.
Finally, this means that Microsoft now has a very good team of I/O Psychologists, organizational consultants, and data scientists dedicated to employees – all in one place. The Viva team, which is likely filled with many Microsoft software specialists, now has an in -depth group of HR, organizational, and analysis experts.
Other Vendors Are Not Standing
This market is so hot that every vendor is investing. Perceptyx acquired Waggl, CultureIQ, and Cultivate. Qualtrics just launched its EX25 model and told me that almost 40% of all their revenue now comes from EX applications. Peakon is one of the fastest growing Labor Day income products. ServiceNow has announced Listening Posts integrated into its platform. And Medallia is also doubling its EX product line.
When I talk to these vendors, I often hear growth rates like 40-60% year on year growth. And it makes sense. Every company in the world needs an employee listening platform, and older survey tools have not kept up. Companies now want a system that handles multiple forms of feedback, crowdsourcing, natural language processing, as well as 360 feedback, real-time analytics, manager dashboards, and alerts and workflow management .
This is why Microsoft’s decision was good. One of the biggest challenges in business (and HR) is having solid, useful feedback from employees. Glint, integrated with Viva, will make it easier than ever. Vendors like Qualtrics, Medallia, Perceptyx, Peakon, and Cultureamp need to strengthen their Microsoft integration plans. And Microsoft will continue to be an open platform and will support all ecosystem partners.
Congratulations to Microsoft for continuing to push the EX strategy. We hope these development teams do some amazing work together-the increase could be overwhelming.
Additional information
Glint and LinkedIn Learning to Marry
Employee Experience Platforms: A New Category is Coming
The Big Impact Of Microsoft Viva