For Microsoft researchers, COVID-19 was a call to action. The reimagining of work practices had long been an area of study, but existing and new questions that needed immediate answers surfaced as companies and their employees quickly adjusted to significantly different working conditions. Teams from across the Microsoft organizational chart pooled their unique expertise together under The New Future of Work initiative. The results have informed product features designed to better support remote work and are now being used to help companies, including Microsoft, usher their workforces into a future of hybrid work.

In this episode of The New Future of Work series, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Principal User Research Manager Ginger Hudson share how people evolved their home office setups throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, and they explore how information workers used various devices and peripherals to put their best self forward as the shift to remote work quickly unfolded. They also talk about what an “anatomy of hybrid work” might look like and some considerations for making a hybrid model of work sustainable in the long term, including the expansion of workspaces to outdoor environments.

https://www.microsoft.com/research