125 - New Future of Work: Driving innovation via cross-company research with Jaime Teevan and Brent Hecht

In this episode of The New Future of Work series podcast, Chief Scientist Jaime Teevan and Director of Applied Science Brent Hecht of the Experiences and Devices group in Microsoft discuss how COVID-19 inspired the New Future of Work initiative, an area of study where questions that required immediate answers and action surfaced as companies and their employees quickly adjusted to significantly different working conditions. Teams from across the Microsoft organization collaborated and pooled their unique expertise together to research and create the largest collection of data on the pandemic's impact on work. The results have informed new product features designed to support remote work and are now helping companies, including Microsoft, transition their workforces into a future of hybrid work. They'll delve into the role of research during times of disruption, the expanding scope of productivity tools and why they believe that going back to work two to three days a week is ideal. They also provide insight into what other factors companies should consider as they decide on new work models.

The podcast is part of The New Future of Work initiative by Microsoft to drive innovation and research between companies. You can find the full series on https://www.microsoft.com/research