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Gina Dyer is passionate about all things “workplace” at Microsoft, which encompasses everything from workspace design and building construction to employee services like dining, transportation, events, and catering.
“We’re constantly evolving—and I wanted a way to demonstrate that we’re responsive and transparent with our decisions regarding employee services,” says Dyer, a programs director on the Real Estate and Facilities team at Microsoft, which is responsible for the employee workplace experience.
Dyer’s email inbox was often flooded with questions from employees about facilities issues, feedback, and requests for dining changes. This meant that she often received duplicate emails about similar facilities problems and answered each message individually.
“We needed a better channel to share information about employee experiences and gain their feedback,” Dyer says.
She began to look for a central tool to solicit feedback from employees, answer commonly asked questions, and share her team’s work.
That’s where Yammer came in.
Created to build community across an organization, Yammer is a Microsoft 365 social networking tool that enables users to share knowledge, build trust, and engage with leaders and managers about company values and strategy. As Microsoft’s primary internal networking tool, Yammer communities are set up for different organizations, roles, and affinity groups across the company.
As Dyer learned more about Yammer, she felt confident about the engagement channel as a central place for conversations, files, events, and updates. She decided to create a Yammer community for Real Estate and Facilities to share videos and photos, solicit feedback, and connect with Microsoft employees and staff across the globe.
“As I looked for a channel that would support open, real-time dialogue, Yammer came to the forefront,” Dyer says. “I wanted employees to feel comfortable voicing their authentic opinions so we could gauge their needs and create a positive employee experience.”
[Read about the seven factors for successfully running a Yammer community at Microsoft. Check out how Microsoft enables its employees to innovate, create, and seamlessly collaborate with other teams.]
Nourishing success in Yammer
When running her Yammer community, Dyer uses seven factors for success, which were developed by Eva Etchells, a communications manager for end user readiness and communications in Microsoft Core Services Engineering and Operations.
“Our work in providing guidance around how to use our collaboration and communications tools is vital,” Etchells says. “People need to know how to stay productive, especially as employees work remotely during COVID-19.”
Etchells developed these principles when running a communications campaign for Microsoft Intune, which required employees to enroll their personal devices to access corporate resources. Etchells identified Yammer as the perfect platform for communicating to employees at scale and staying in conversation with employees about what they needed.
“I knew requiring enrollment would be a big culture shift, so I needed to reach out to all employees, answer their questions, and get the pulse of what people were talking about,” she says.
Running this campaign led Etchells, one of the company’s top Yammer advocates and power users, to create seven factors for running Yammer communities. This framework encourages community managers to identify roles and responsibilities and set expectations with community members.
Measuring the pulse of employee needs
By virtue of being a service organization, Real Estate and Facilities garners a lot of feedback.
“Someone will always dislike the preparation of their chicken or the color of the wall in their workspace,” Dyer says. “I focus on listening to our employee community and bringing in the most relevant resources and experts to address their concerns and answer their questions.”
Employees are encouraged to spur conversations and ideation in Yammer communities, fueled by the fact that all threads are visible to all members of a Yammer community. Rather than being a top-down vehicle for conversation, Dyer has found that her Yammer community is a two-way conversation where employees in her community can help each other.
“Sometimes, a community member will share the answer to a question from someone else, so I don’t have to be the expert all the time,” Dyer says. “I also work with leaders to craft responses, all while keeping the personality of my organization and the tone of responses in mind.”
When Dyer responds to an employee on a thread, she thanks them for their feedback, reinforces the value of sharing ideas, and brings their suggestions to service managers that can respond with the most relevant information. She also makes a point to follow up and close the feedback loop after requesting feedback.
“I earn the trust of my Yammer community by being responsive and caring, so they know that their feedback is taken into consideration,” she says. “If we aren’t able to implement their feedback, I also talk with employees about why that is so they understand our rationale.”
One example of listening to feedback was when an employee had posted about a service vehicle that they saw speeding in a specific parking garage.
“I responded by thanking them for sharing, expressed that it was unacceptable, and escalated it to our service manager,” Dyer says. “I came back to the thread and shared that the manager has spoken with the individual and it wouldn’t happen again.”
Dyer also brings in experts from Real Estate and Facilities to answer strategic or technical questions about her organization. For example, she routes broadly applicable questions to the general manager of Real Estate and Security, the parent organization of Real Estate and Facilities. A question about Microsoft’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, goes to a real estate director in that region. These conversations in Yammer communities empower leaders to be on the frontlines and directly address employee needs.
“Leaders must understand that their professional brand is tied up with Yammer, and they have an opportunity to share the value that they add as a professional and a department,” Dyer says. “I bring in leaders in a way that best supports their leadership style and time investment.”
Beyond replying to conversation threads, Dyer also collects feedback using Yammer surveys.
A few weeks ago, an employee posted that they often missed building-wide notices. Dyer replied to this thread with a survey about everyone’s preferred method of communication when receiving notices. She also reminded employees that they may have inbox rules that send emails from Real Estate and Facilities to a specific folder, which might contribute to missing emails.
“Afterwards, I let everyone know we would continue to email out building-wide notices, and also post on Yammer to make sure people see it,” Dyer says. “I love getting feedback from employees based on a quick survey that can lead to a change in my communications plan.”
Lessons learned from running a Yammer community
Dyer has learned a lot about how to best support employees in her Yammer community, particularly the value of humor. In one instance, an employee was a vocal critic of team-based workspaces and their potential impact on productivity. This came up when Dyer was advertising an upcoming open house that focused on new global locations and their workspace design and amenities. She invited employees to come in and talk to designers and construction teams who were working on these new buildings.
The employee replied to the thread, suggesting that they’d be coming with pitchforks and torches.
Dyer took some time to think about how she could respond. She wanted to create space for employees to share their concerns, but she didn’t want the thread to spiral out of control and garner scores of replies.
Her solution?
She answered by suggesting that the employee leave their pitchforks and torches at the door because security and the fire marshal wouldn’t appreciate it. Then, she invited them to stop by on their own to say hi.
“The tone of the thread became much more lighthearted,” Dyer says. “People were laughing and posting GIFs. It was a turning point in our online relationship with the members of the community. Now, they post answers for me, and others post fun things.”
Ultimately, Dyer and Etchells are glad to have Yammer as a platform to foster and support authentic community engagement.
“At the end of the day, we’re all doing the best we can,” Etchells says. “You have to treat employees as real humans who are passionate about topics and give them the space to share their needs.”
As for Dyer, she’s grateful that she built her Yammer community and encourages others to do the same.
“Being able to learn from employees’ diverse perspectives and the content they share is the most rewarding part of my day,” Dyer says. “I love hearing what employees have learned from my channel and seeing their excitement when their suggestions come to life.”
Read about the seven factors for successfully running a Yammer community at Microsoft.
