Empowering Employee Mobility with

New World of Work May 2014

The following content may no longer reflect Microsoft’s current position or infrastructure. This

content should be viewed as reference documentation only, to inform IT business decisions

within your own company or organization.

Microsoft employees have access to a broad range of technologies to help

them work efficiently and collaboratively, whether they are in the office or

on the road. The traditional workplace, at Microsoft as in many companies,

has not evolved commensurately to reflect how technology-supported

employees work. To address this, Microsoft conceived the New World of

Work (NWoW) program, to create a dynamic workplace that features user-

centric technology deployment and modern workspace design. Microsoft IT,

working with Human Resources and Microsoft Real Estate & Facilities, is

using NWoW to transform the workplace experience, empower employees

to be more mobile and productive, and optimize existing facility space.

Executive Overview

The inspiration behind the Microsoft New World of Work (NWoW) program is to enable individual

work-style choice by creating flexible workplace environments that support improved mobility,

productivity, and collaboration, while reducing real estate costs. The program, an extension of a

Microsoft Real Estate & Facilities (RE&F) initiative to use the real estate portfolio more efficiently

and cost-effectively, called for smaller, modern, more technically advanced offices.

Microsoft IT partnered with RE&F in 2010 to extend this concept by incorporating products and

services, from innovative meeting spaces to advanced wireless technologies, to support a more

mobile workforce. NWoW, piloted in Holland, Singapore and Irvine, California, and now in place in

45 Microsoft facilities globally, uses a “people, place, and technology” approach to transform

Microsoft offices into business assets. Benefits to date include improved employee satisfaction and

team effectiveness, a broadly appealing work environment, and optimized real estate investments.

Introduction

The Microsoft New World of Work (NWoW) program originated from a 2005 email in which former

Microsoft CEO Bill Gates envisioned a world in which individual employees, constantly connected via

the Internet, would be empowered by technology and tools that enable them to improve their

efficiency and focus on the “highest-value work.” This credo was the basis for three-pillar “people,

place, and technology” approach that NWoW exemplifies.

2 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

At the same time, Microsoft Real Estate & Facilities (RE&F) was engaged in an initiative, the Work

Place Advantage program, that sought to use the company’s real estate portfolio more efficiently.

That program focused on designing smaller, technically advanced offices—cost-effective, efficient

spaces that met employees’ needs but also incorporated an open approach to deploying new

technologies and using existing ones. This decision was based on the realization that some of the

dedicated workspace in Microsoft facilities was either underutilized or poorly allocated from the

physical standpoint, based on changing work habits.

In concert with this initiative, Microsoft adjusted its workplace policies to support an appealing,

flexible environment predicated on freedom of movement and trust, and supportive of an increasingly

mobile workforce.

One key objective of the NWoW program is to give employees more choice in and control over how

they manage their work life activities, by equipping them with the technology to roam and yet remain

connected. NWoW revisits the notion of the office or cubicle by designing smaller individual task-

oriented workspaces and, as appropriate, reduced people-to-desk ratios. The initiative also calls for

creating a wide range of formal and informal technology-rich meeting spaces, designed to enhance

collaboration in aesthetically appealing settings.

Ultimately, NWoW had to ensure the new space-allocation model accommodated the inherently

demographically diverse workforce at Microsoft—from the Generation X and Y “digital natives” who

build their work and personal lives around technology, to middle-aged “digital immigrants” who

prefer a more traditional work environment. The concept also had to accommodate the wide range

of Microsoft facilities and operational structures, from those in established Western and Asian market

economies to those in emerging markets such as Vietnam.

Concept Piloted in Diverse Locations

Microsoft chose to pilot the new NWoW model in a new building in Schiphol, Holland, near

Amsterdam. The facility, opened in 2008, has no assigned desks and required only 8.82 square meters

(95 square feet) per employee. Dedicated workspaces are small but technologically advanced, and the

environment, by design, promotes meeting areas—both formal and casual—over traditional desks

and cubicles. Employees are provided sufficient technology support to enable them to roam

throughout the facility, yet still remain in close touch with coworkers and readily “findable.”

The Schiphol project proved successful, from both an employee satisfaction and cost-reduction

perspective. It became the model and basis for the more than 45 NWoW sites now in operation in

Microsoft locations throughout the globe, from New Zealand and Singapore to North America and

Southeast Asia.

Informal customer “meet and greet areas,” like this one in Wellington, New Zealand, are typical of Microsoft NWoW sites globally.

3 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

Microsoft then used the NWoW model to drive its planned redevelopment of the Irvine, California,

facility in 2013, and to create a template for all U.S. offices. The then 10-year-old Irvine location had

been initially designed around individual workspaces for its predominantly sales and marketing

personnel, who were mobile by default.

An evaluation of work patterns in the facility found that when the employees were onsite, they

preferred to use their workspaces as “touchdown hubs.” It was clear that mobility and technology

access were far more important to the employees than their designated workspaces.

People, Place, and Technology Pillars

Before launching the facility redevelopment, Microsoft IT, Human Resources, and RE&F engaged in

planning and design using the Microsoft “People, Place, and Technology” approach that ensures a

user-centric environment wherever employees work and however they choose to collaborate.

In devising the technology deployment and facility-design strategy, the planning team placed strong

emphasis on end-to-end change management. This approach was crucial to helping all employees

understand and embrace the significant change that would be required to ensure NWoW success in

the technology, process change, and people-management areas. For example, the facility

implemented a two-employees-to-one-desk ratio but expanded the space devoted to open-floor and

meeting areas, with an eye to boosting collaboration. At the same time, the strategy incorporated a

very modern IT experience for the staff, wherever they chose to work.

Diverse Meeting Spaces

The new Irvine office was redesigned to facilitate the NWoW freedom-of-movement concept. This

concept features open areas where desks are located, and provides lockers for storing personal items

that previously had been kept in individual desks. The redesign created a broad range of meeting

areas, from small, cozy tucked-away spaces with attractive, comfortable furnishings, to larger open-

area meeting spots, to formal, traditional closed-door conference rooms.

Employees in Microsoft NWoW facilities customize their storage and physical mailboxes to add a personal touch to their office

“space.”

All meeting spaces are equipped with the latest technology, and can be booked using a system that

integrates the Microsoft Outlook calendar with Creston wall-mounted devices that display meeting

room schedules and availability. Employees can also book the meeting rooms from the devices,

which synchronize the calendar with an Office 365 Exchange account.

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Sophisticated Wireless, Voice Technology

Microsoft Lync, the company’s unified communications platform that incorporates voice and video

calling with instant messaging and Web conference capability internally and externally, was deployed

across Microsoft in 2010. Lync is a key component of the Irvine redesign. Enterprise voice (EV) was

added later. These technologies enable employees and federated clients to manage their contacts, set

and participate in web conferences, send instant messages, and make phone calls through a single

user interface. EV, now available to the vast majority of Microsoft employees, removes the need for

physical phones.

The Irvine location, like most Microsoft sites, has no individually assigned desk telephones. Employees

are provided headsets that connect to laptops or tablets for Lync online meetings and phone calls.

Physical Lync phones are located in shared spaces such as meeting rooms, focus rooms, and common

areas. These devices can be used as external speakers and microphones when connected to laptop

USB ports.

This private meeting area in the Microsoft Irvine, California, NWoW facility offers privacy for one-on-one meetings.

This complete EV experience meets the NWoW full-mobility goal by enabling employees to effectively

make their employee laptop, Microsoft tablet, or Windows Phone their individual “central location” of

choice during the workday or while traveling. The workers are free to roam as needed or desired,

while they retain full access to the technologies and tools they need to work effectively.

As part of the NWoW rollout in pilot locations, Microsoft IT implemented 802.11n wireless technology

to increase the number of office wireless access points and the capacity from 54 megabits per second

(Mbps) to 300 Mbps. This improvement enables employees to move around freely using wireless

connectivity, and still access high-quality voice communications.

The corporate wireless network is available by default to all Microsoft IT-managed devices. To

accommodate non domain-joined machines and devices that fall in to the company’s Bring Your Own

Device (BYOD) category, Microsoft IT implemented additional wireless service set identifiers (SSIDs)

with Internet-only access.

This comprehensive communications and technology-backbone approach is a strategic focal point as

Microsoft creates a more mobile work environment, and must manage an increasingly complex

environment of managed and unmanaged devices that access data on the corporate network.

5 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

Rethinking the Desktop

In rethinking and assessing the desktop environment for the redesigned NWoW workspace, Microsoft

IT determined that ensuring a high-tech fast “touchdown” approach to the traditional desktop

experience was critical in an unassigned-desk scenario. Because much of the office workspace is

unassigned, employees now come into the office functioning as mobile, transient workers who can

and do perform their tasks in a variety of settings.

At the same time, NWoW must accommodate and simplify the user experience for employees who

either must or want to connect to the corporate network using wired technology. To meet this

requirement, each workspace has an external monitor and a port replicator. This infrastructure

enables employees to connect to external monitors and the corporate network using a wired solution

comprising one cable on the USB 3.0 port, as an alternative to wireless connectivity. As an added

benefit, this capability allows employees to leverage smaller devices to obtain the benefits of a laptop

or desktop computer. This option has proved popular with Microsoft employees who travel frequently

and increasingly favor Microsoft Windows-based tablets such as the Microsoft Surface Pro 2.

Crestron room-booking systems, which integrate with the Microsoft Office Outlook calendar, are simple, effective management

tools in NWoW offices.

Mobility Solutions

The NWoW Irvine project, a major NWoW pilot in the United States, also introduced new mobility

solutions that boost collaboration. One is FindMe, a people-locating and resource-booking tool.

FindMe, which incorporates physical-presence, text messaging, and video/audio capabilities,

integrates with Lync to deliver a rich user experience. Employees opt in by installing an agent on their

computers or devices and then can choose whether or not to publish their location. All Microsoft

employees who have corporate network access can see the facility floor plan on a web browser, to

easily track or locate other employees, thereby saving time.

Using the FindMe suite, end-users can access a broad range of features, to:

Book ad-hoc meetings.

Find co-workers on the floor plan and facility map.

Find their team with a single click.

Publish their location on their own terms.

View presence information for their contacts.

View desk availability.

6 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

FindMe uses Wi-Fi signal strength and access points to pinpoint the employee’s approximate device

location, within a 10-meter radius. For machines or devices connected to the wired network and port

replicator, the user’s position is identified on the floor plan by the port replicator’s media access

control (MAC). FindMe displays the free/busy status of meeting rooms, as well as meeting purpose

and organizer information. Employees also can view the meeting-room status page and book the

room from a web browser.

Figure 1. FindMe room-view example in the Irvine, California, NWoW facility

The FindMe solution is now in place at several NWoW sites globally. It is available to Microsoft

customers through the company’s Microsoft Services Solution Accelerator.

Connectivity, Mobility, and the Cloud

Microsoft IT implemented several additional applications and services, supported by Microsoft cloud

technologies, to support the Irvine employees in their mobile work environment. Implementing cloud

technologies has had a minimal impact on end users, but it delivers numerous advantages to

employees generally and to Microsoft IT staff who manage the technology infrastructure.

Employees are empowered to work from anywhere, and on any device, as long as they have Internet

access. Because files are stored in the cloud and tools are available through the cloud, employees are

able to access what they need quickly regardless of where they are working.

DirectAccess

DirectAccess, a Windows Server feature introduced with the 2008 edition that functions similar to a

virtual private network (VPN), is an important component of NWoW initiative. It provides a secure,

full-featured work experience for employees who use their Microsoft-provided devices. DirectAccess

enables employees to connect to the corporate network seamlessly from any location with Internet

access, without having to establish a VPN connection each time they connect. This easy-access

method uses two-factor authentication, using the Trusted Platform Module (TPM) chip to store the

employee’s virtual smart card.

Company Portal

To ensure uninterrupted access to commonly used Microsoft programs and applications in the

increasingly mobile NWoW environment, upgrades and new applications are now delivered through

the Microsoft Company Portal. The portal is supported on multiple operating systems and platforms,

including Windows 8.1, Windows RT, Windows Phone 8, and iOS devices. The Company Portal has

been enhanced considerably in recent years, and it supports the NWoW in several important ways,

including:

Delivering backup solutions via modern applications, to provide redundant access to employee and

corporate data in the cloud through Microsoft OneDrive and OneDrive for Business.

Providing client hardware-health monitoring and repair software for mobile users.

7 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

Offering readily accessible line-of-business (LOB) applications to enable mobile employees to work

productively and install software efficiently while on the move.

Benefits and Improvements

The NWoW project in Irvine, while still evolving, has delivered numerous benefits. Existing facility floor

space has been optimized by creating collaborative workspaces and deploying technology that

complements the work-style changes that Microsoft sought to introduce. The result is a more

attractive environment for both current and prospective employees, and one accommodates a broad

range of employee demographics and personas.

This flexible environment, which enables employees to work where and how they want, has created an

environment that engenders freedom, trust, and responsibility. That, in turn, has increased collegiality

and collaboration.

Other benefits include streamlined technology usage, and improved productivity and user

satisfaction, as measured by the following results of NWoW post-deployment employee scorecard

areas, in locations where the initiative has been implemented:

61 percent indicated that NWoW supports individual effectiveness.

75 percent indicated that NWoW supports team effectiveness.

75 percent reported user satisfaction with the NWoW environment.

61 percent indicated that the NWoW environment promotes Microsoft products and technologies.

Finally, NWoW has begun to confer its intended improvements in the areas of facility management

and cost savings.

Conclusion

The Microsoft New world of Work (NWoW) initiative uses a strategic approach to create a work

environment that supports employee mobility, while accommodating the work-styles of employees

ranging from Generation X and Y “digital natives” who build their work activities around technology,

to older employees who may be “digital immigrants” who prefer a more traditional workspace and

work-style.

The evolution to a task-oriented work environment enhances cross-group collaboration, and

improves both productivity and satisfaction because of the high degree of flexibility and choice the

environment offers. As new Microsoft products and services are developed, they are evaluated for the

NWoW suitability, and are added to existing NWoW environments to keep the experience fresh.

NWoW is continually evolving, and it will become an increasingly important, relevant initiative within

Microsoft globally.

Resources

For more information about the New World of Work (NWoW) office transformation program at

Microsoft, go to:

http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/execmail/2005/05-19newworldofwork.mspx

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj650859.aspx

Related videos

For related videos that show the Microsoft NWoW in action, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMQ4R_TiN_s&feature=youtu.be

8 | Empowering Employee Mobility with New World of Work

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20IU2Bp62P0

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