announced a company Microsoft announced today Wednesday that some of its most popular games are available to users of its video conferencing service, Teams, in an effort to help employees interact with one another.
The American tech giant said so Manifest On his blog: “Everywhere people struggle to build trust, relationships and improve team morale. So what’s wrong with using games? Playing with colleagues has a powerful ability to improve 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 who played short video games together were 20% more productive than to those who participated in traditional team-building activities.
With the shift to remote work and hybrid work, the social dimension at work has weakened, affecting cooperation between groups. In fact, according to the Work Trend Index, more than 40% of business leaders believe that building relationships is the biggest challenge in the modern workplace. So according to Microsoft, games can be an easy way to connect and build trust with teammates.
For these reasons, Microsoft has announced the launch of an application Games for workwhich 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 app makes it easy to play fast-paced, interactive and multiplayer versions (from 2 to 250 players) of the games mentioned. It is ad-free.
Microsoft added that the Games for Work application is integrated directly into the daily workflow plan, so once the application is added to the Teams service, employees can play games during meetings, both on desktop and mobile devices.
In addition to the Games for Work application, the company indicated that there are other applications in Teams that help strengthen employee relationships, improve productivity and entertainment.
Among these applications: the application of puzzles and opinion polls Polly in TeamsThat Can Use it in chats, meetings or channels and apply challenges Kahoot! In Teams.
Microsoft has promised to launch more applications over the next year.
