Microsoft announced, Wednesday, that some of its most popular games will be made available to users of its video conferencing service, Teams, in an effort to help employees interact with each other.
“People everywhere are struggling to build trust and relationships, and improve team morale, ” the US tech giant said in a post on its blog. So what’s wrong with using games? Playing with co-workers has a powerful ability to enhance relationships and cooperation.”
Although some see games while working as a distraction, Microsoft sees great benefits in them and cited a study conducted by Brigham Young University, which showed that work teams that played short video games together were 20 percent more productive than those that participated in traditional activities. to build teams.
With the transition to remote work and hybrid work, the social dimension at work has weakened, affecting cooperation between groups. In fact, more than 40 percent of business leaders believe that building relationships is the biggest challenge in modern work environments, according to the Work Trend Index. So, according to Microsoft, games can be an easy way to connect and build trust with teammates.
For these reasons, Microsoft announced the launch of the Games for Work application, which brings some of its most popular games to Teams meetings, and the list includes Icebreakers, Minesweeper, Wordament, and the popular card game Solitaire.
The company said: The new application allows for easy play in quick, interactive, and multiplayer versions (from 2 to 250 players) of the aforementioned games. It is ad-free.
Microsoft added that the Games for Work application is integrated directly into the daily workflow plan, so after the application is added to the Teams service, employees can play during meetings, whether on desktop or mobile devices.
In addition to the Games for a Work application, the company indicated that there are other applications in Teams that help strengthen employee relations, enhance productivity, as well entertainment.
These include Polly in Teams, a puzzle and poll app that can be used in chats, meetings, or channels, and Kahoot! In Teams.
Microsoft promised to launch more applications over the next year.
