The Microsoft Story: The future world of work

Activity Based Working

“Work is something you do, notsomewhere you go”.

At Microsoft Australia’s offices wehave abandoned traditional desk andoffice arrangements. Instead, we haveembraced Activity Based Working,where our people connect to theirclients and teams through computersand smartphones and can choosewhen, where and how they would liketo work each day.

Our innovative, flexible and openworkplace design provides ourpeople with a wide range of sharedspaces and amenities. Employees canwork from the office, from home,from a cafe, on the move, or evenfrom the beach if that works for them.Microsoft’s suite of productivitytechnologies underpins our ability towork in this way.

Microsoft believeswork is somethingyou do, notsomewhere you go

Why Activity Based Working?

The world of work is changing.Globalisation, technologicaladvancements and the expectationsof younger generations are driving achange in the nature of how we work.

Seven years ago, Microsoft’s GlobalExecutive team started a conversationwithin Microsoft about the need toensure the sustainability and successof the organisation in a climate ofeconomic unpredictability and marketevolution. Locally, we recognised theneed to develop our resilience andorganisational agility in order tosustain our competitive advantage inan ever changing world.

Microsoft offices around the worldstarted testing new ways of thinkingabout work. For example, MicrosoftNetherlands moved to acustom-designed Activity Based

Employees can workfrom the office, fromhome, from a cafe,from the beach, oreven on the move

Working office in April 2008. Since thistime, sales in the Netherlands officeincreased by 51 percent, office spacecosts reduced by 30 per cent, andemployee satisfaction increased.

Here in Australia, we started a dialogueabout the challenge of defining asuccessful long term strategy in theface of continuing change. Werecognised that to continue to be themarket leader and maintaincompetitive advantage, we would needto focus on our culture and breakexisting paradigms about how workwas done.

Under our old working style we werealso at risk of running out of space atmany of our Australian office locationsdue to an ever growing workforce. Weknew, like other organisations, that themajority of our people work at theirdesignated workspace less than 50 percent of their day, suggesting thatallocated workspaces and thesignificant infrastructure this requires isbecoming both redundant andunsustainable.

People spend less than50 per cent of theirwork day at theirdesignated workspace

What did Microsoft do?

We recognised our need tochallenge and rethink the nature ofwork in terms of when, where andhow people work. Our approach wasfounded in the three pillars ofpeople, place and technology.

Pillar One: People

“Microsoft has spent a lot of timebeing very deliberate about ourculture and our work environment.”

Rose Clements, Human ResourcesDirector, Microsoft Australia

We recognised that to change theculture in our organisation we neededto challenge the systems, symbolsand behaviours of Microsoft Australiaby focusing on the values andattitudes of our people.

Through a collaborative process wedeveloped four mental models thatour leadership team fostered in our

people: Response Ability, GenuineCuriosity, Authentic Communication,and Absolute Integrity. We believethese four mental models, when theybecome the norm for organisationalattitude, will drive a culture of resilienceand agility, so that we can best servethe Microsoft purpose regardless ofthe continuously evolving externalenvironment.

We encouraged a dialogue amongteam members and their managers todevelop a clear picture of job roles interms of outcomes and achievement.We asked our employees ’in yourpersonal and work circumstances,when, where and how do you need towork in order to execute the jobyou’ve been employed to do’? Thisway of working generates a culturefounded on true trust, empowermentand accountability.

We recognisedthe need tochallenge andrethink thenature of work

People, Place& Technology

Pillar Two: Place

Simultaneous to the culture discussionwe were considering solutions to thechallenge of fitting our growingworkforce into the North Ryde headoffice location and offices in Perth,Brisbane and Adelaide. We engagedwith our global Microsoft counterpartsto determine how principles of ActivityBased Working could be applied.

Using a staged process, our NorthRyde office was refurbished to cater formore and different types of spacewhich encouraged collaboration, suchas spontaneous meeting spaces, formalmeeting rooms, stand-up desks, floorhubs, and a customer area showcasingMicrosoft technology on our partnerdevices. All employees have access toall spaces and people select where theywould like to work based on the activitythey are doing rather than having adesignated workspace. An entire floorof the office was handed back to thelandlord and our floor space footprintwas reduced by 25 per cent.

People select wherethey would like towork based on theactivity they are doing

Our floorspace footprintwas reducedby 25 per cent

How important is technology?

Pillar Three: Technology

The third pillar, technology, has beena key enabler of our move to ActivityBased Working. Our technologyeasily enables this way of working.Our people simply need a computerand an internet connection and theycan instantly work securely -wherever they choose. The NBN willfacilitate this type of work style for alot more people in Australia. It willenable an “always on when I need tobe on” capability that mobile workersneed through reliable services to gettheir job done.

We have a suite of integratedtechnologies and tools that ourpeople are using in new andinnovative ways to drive competitiveadvantage. For example, we use

Microsoft Lync, our Voice OverInternet Protocol (VOIP) technology tomanage video andtelecommunications from ourcomputers, which significantly reducestraditional office phone system costs.We also use Microsoft Lync,SharePoint and Windows Phone toengage in real-time virtualcommunication and collaboration,regardless of location and workspace.In meeting rooms we use a PolycomRoundTable to engage all participantsvia the 360 degree camera.

The technology which underpins ourmove to Activity Based Working iseasy to use, easy to access and isgetting sharper, smarter and better allthe time.

Lync, SharePoint,Windows Phone andPolycom RoundTablebring us togetherregardless of wherewe are working

The technology isconstantly evolving,getting sharper,smarter and betterall the time

Challenges and lessons learnt

Challenges in transitioning to ActivityBased Working are to be expected,but these can be overcome with ablend of strong leadership, culturalimprovement and robust strategy.

For example, we addresseduncertainty regarding how to get intouch with or find people byenhancing Outlook and SharePointwith presence indicators. Weovercame the desire to retainpersonalised workspaces byencouraging people to decorate theirlockers and express themselvesthrough technology such asSharePoint and Lync activity updates.We addressed the need to replicatethe plaques and trophies of traditionalreward and recognition programs bycreating an application on theMicrosoft intranet called ‘SPLASH!’,which enables employees to engagein rich peer to peer recognition, as wellas more formal recognition via theirWindows phone or computer.

Challenges can beovercome with ablend of strongleadership, culturalimprovement androbust strategy

Personalisedlockers, screen-savers and userpresence onMicrosoftprograms

What are the benefits ofActivity Based Working?

We have experienced a boost inemployee productivity, engagementand wellbeing. Our new way ofworking fosters more opportunitiesfor collaboration due to the ‘bumpfactor’, that facilitates quicker andmore collaborative decision making,and enables increased employeemobility and flexibility.

“Being able to work flexibly withMicrosoft is a huge reason why I lovethe company... I also have found thatmy productivity is much greater.”

Melissa Dewick, Marketing Manager,Microsoft Australia

In line with this employee sentiment,Microsoft Australia was named ‘Bestof the Best’ in Anil Hewitt’s 2010 and

2012 Best Employers in Australia andNew Zealand.

We have significantly reduced costs inmany respects, in areas such as floorspace, recruitment agency fees andtelephone costs.

We are more environmentallysustainable. Our carbon emissions havedecreased due to our reduced floorspace, infrastructure, and powerrequirements. For example, coolingand power costs are reduced as a resultof building design that takes advantageof daylight, light sensors and manual airconditioning activation. We have alsosignificantly reduced our paper usagethrough the move towards electronictools for collaboration and initiativessuch as ’follow me printing’.

We have experienced a boost in employeeproductivity,engagement and wellbeing

We believe that the new way ofworking at Microsoft Australia couldpoint to the workplace of the future,which offers flexibility, spontaneity andthe flawless transition between thevirtual and the physical.

Benefits of this new way of working*

10% improvement in individualeffectiveness

14% improvement in informalcollaboration

11% improvement in overallworkplace satisfaction

7% improvements in teameffectiveness

20% improvement in formalcollaboration

21% improvement in impressionon customers

Source: Microsoft global survey

*WRAF performance vs legacy sites.

Our carbonemissions havedecreased due to ourreduced floor space,infrastructure, andpower requirements

Printed on ecoStar Silk.ecoStar Silk is an environmentally responsible paper made carbon neutral. The greenhouse gas emissions of themanufacturing process including transportation of the finished product to Raleigh Warehouses has been measured by theEdinburgh Centre for Carbon Management (ECHO) and offset by the Carbuncular Company and the fibre source has beenindependently certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FRISCO). ecoStar Silk is manufactured from 100% postconsumer recycled paper in a process chlorine free environment under the ISO 14001, ISO 9001 & ISO 9706 environmentalmanagement systems. ecoStar Silk is European ECT-Label certified.

©2012 Microsoft® Corporation. All rights reserved. Microsoft and the Microsoft logo are trademarks of the MicrosoftGroup of Companies. This document is for informational purposes only. Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied,in this document.