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Microsoft Digital, the organization that powers, protects, and transforms the company, continued its focus on building inclusive and accessible experiences internally at Microsoft in 2021.
Employees in Microsoft Digital identified potential challenges to inclusive and accessible experiences that the company employees were having working in a remote and hybrid environment and quickly responded with practical solutions. The solutions ranged from automating user research, to rethinking simple face-to-face interactions, to identifying new workplace norms, to making Microsoft Teams meetings more accessible.
For me, it’s not just about making products accessible for Microsoft employees to help them get their work done. It’s also about supporting employees with disabilities and ensuring that Microsoft builds a diverse and inclusive workforce across the spectrum of abilities.
-Manish Agrawal, senior program manager, Accessibility team, Microsoft Digital
[Leading a successful adoption of Microsoft Teams. When being ‘selfish’ about using Microsoft products gets personal. How Microsoft is reimagining meetings for a hybrid work world.]
Powering accessibility with inclusive design
Microsoft continued its focus on designing for accessibility in 2021.
“For me, it’s not just about making products accessible for Microsoft employees to help them get their work done,” says Manish Agrawal, a senior program manager for the Accessibility team within Microsoft Digital. “It’s also about supporting employees with disabilities and ensuring that Microsoft builds a diverse and inclusive workforce across the spectrum of abilities.”
Read more about Microsoft’s fresh approach to accessibility powered by inclusive design.
Solve for one, extend to many
Microsoft’s internal push to build inclusive and accessible experiences got a boost in 2021 when it transformed the portal that Microsoft guests use to register their devices and connect to the internet when they visit one of the company’s buildings.
“We didn’t want to just guess what certain employees would want or face,” says Faris Mango, a software engineering manager in Microsoft Digital. “Instead, we wanted to have our employees use the portal so we could get feedback straight from them.”
The transformation of that app was fueled by collecting real-time feedback from users.
“Ensure that you’re getting feedback from customers outside of your own team, discipline, or organization, bring in a diverse user base from the beginning, and really listen to what they need,” says- Hope Idaewor, a user researcher on the Digital Studio team in Microsoft Digital.
Read more about prioritizing accessibility at Microsoft with feedback from people with disabilities.
Creating inclusive and effective meetings
The need to work remotely led Microsoft to focus on making hybrid meetings more inclusive in 2021.
“Inclusion is defined by the ability to feel comfortable contributing their ideas and perspectives,” says Sara Bush, a senior program manager on the Seamless Teamwork team in Microsoft Digital. “In an inclusive and effective meeting, I can participate fully because I have access to all the relevant documents, content, and people before, during, and after. This allows me to engage and contribute from anywhere.”
Read these tips on holding inclusive and effective meetings.
Staying productive in a hybrid world
With most of the world continuing to work remotely throughout 2021, Microsoft doubled down on helping its employees stay productive.
“We are stewards of the employee experience, and we obsess over every detail of the online and in-person meeting experience for our employees, from the physical spaces on campus, to the software that enables the experience, to the support model when employees need additional assistance,” says Nathalie D’Hers, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Employee Experience in Microsoft Digital. “While reliable, easy-to-use technology is critical to a great meeting experience in this new hybrid world of work, so are the right behaviors.”
Read D’Her’s tips for staying productive in an evolving hybrid world.
Driving transformation with inclusive and accessible experiences
Microsoft Digital continued to lead the company’s push to ensure the services it builds for its employees to use at work reflect the diversity of the company’s employees, customers, and partners.
“Building inclusive, accessible experiences is a catalyst for digital transformation, because without accessible tools, people can’t do their best work,” says John Jendrezak, corporate vice president of Customer Experience in Microsoft Digital. “And if people can’t do their best work, the company, its culture, and its customers are directly impacted.”
Read Jenderzak’s perspective on building inclusive and accessible experiences.
Here are some tips for building and encouraging inclusive and accessible experiences for your employees:
- Think—and design for—inclusive and accessible experiences before you start.
- Build a plan for making your meetings inclusive that includes plans for before the meeting, during the meeting, and after the meeting.
- Establish new norms for making all your people feel included in meetings and in all situations.
- Learn more about Microsoft’s Inclusive Design methodology.
- Check out Microsoft’s internal Microsoft Teams Meeting guide.
- Leading a successful adoption of Microsoft Teams.
- When being ‘selfish’ about using Microsoft products gets personal.
- How Microsoft is reimagining meetings for a hybrid work world.
