Microsoft wins today's buzzword bingo with empowering set of updates to Teams

It's all about "Firstline Workers" in three new updates to Microsoft's cloudy collaboration platform. Microsoft has its eye on the billions of retail associates and service workers around the world who would benefit from the company's wares, and benefit the bottom line at Redmond, of course. To that end, the Windows giant is …

[Will Godfrey]

Talk about dumbing down

When you start giving your employees, and err, partners kiddy gold stars you've really lost the plot.

P.S. then of course tell all the 'class' how good billy has been.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Talk about dumbing down

takes note of silver badge by posters name....

[Trixr]

Re: Talk about dumbing down

Given the way IT jobs are going, perhaps we should all start getting used to being treated like Macca's latest pimply-faced employee-of-the-month.

[Anonymous Coward]

"countless studies...showing that employees would prefer praise to a raise "

Obviously those studies didn't include me.

It's bad enough having to endure any form of employee management sh*tware, it's even worse when it is laden with Dilbetesque motivational crap. Just give me more money, and cut out the cant.

[Spoonsinger]

Re: "countless studies...showing that employees would prefer praise to a raise "

I think it's the difference between

"Please Sir, can I have more?" & "Consider yourself at home, consider yourself one of the family"

The former are more than likely to get a firm no, or kicked out, while the latter with their cheery little tune and smiles to the front will be happily robbing them blind around the back.

[Inventor of the Marmite Laser]

Had to endure this kind of thing for a while

Thank $Deity I no longer have to; assorted crap, judiciously mixed with buzzwords, (including "leverage as a verb) and salted by platitudes in "Personalised" emails and in-house Faecebook look-alike, from nameless members of "Your HR Team".

Slimy

It doesn't get much less motivating than that.

[veti]

Does anyone else find it disconcerting when simple English words like Teams and Badges and Praise, without noticeably changing their meaning, suddenly sprout Capital Letters?

[ThatOne]

> without noticeably changing their meaning

I'm not sure about that:

Praise: Minimalistic acknowledgement that somebody has done what he was supposed to do

Badge: Visible (and only tangible) result of "Praise"

Teams: Groups of hamsters sharing a wheel

Those terms definitely need a capital so people don't mistake them for the original words they are derived from. Quotation marks would be too cumbersome to use in everyday HR output.

[JLV]

it’s almost as if we’re speaking German.

or Old English.

sounds twattish tho.

[Anonymous Coward]

Motivation and praise are good

But not when done like this :-(

[Jay Lenovo]

Office (Space) 365

Oooh, can't wait to acquire all that Team "Flair"

[JohnFen]

Virtual badge != Recognition

Recognition is important. A virtual badge on a screen is not "recognition". Recognition involves actually calling out what the accomplishment was.

(Don't get me started on "raise" vs "praise". Let's just say that both are important, and do not substitute for each other).

[W.S.Gosset]

Re: Virtual badge != Recognition

Spot on.

[Anonymous Coward]

Anybody know if teams now has screensharing from chat (IM) or do we still need to make a videocall first to do that?

[tiggity]

Raise v Praise

I left a job where I got lots of praise .. because the pay was too low once I had dependents.

So, I went to a job with better pay.

So, in my case raise outweighed praise by a huge margin

[Jtom]

Just a matter if time before Management decides that, out of fairness, everyone should get a virtual badge so no feels left out or gets hurt feelings. After all, if meritocracy produces a result that is anything other than equal to all groups, then it must be because of ‘privileged’ groups, racism, sexism, agism, or some other -ism.

[Daedalus]

POS^2

I have no objection to Microsoft installing their POS at the POS.

As long as they handle all the service calls.