Viva Engage: Updates and Tips to Build Engagement in the Digital Workplace

Building Engagement in the Digital Workplace

Feeling disconnected in a hybrid world? You’re not alone

As flexible work becomes the norm, many organizations are facing a familiar challenge:

How do we foster meaningful employee engagement across the digital workplace?

‍That’s where Microsoft Viva Engage comes in. Viva Engage is part of Microsoft Viva, a suite of employee experience tools built into Microsoft 365. It's more than just a social platform, Viva Engage is a powerful tool within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem that helps organizations build community, spark conversation, and strengthen culture, no matter where your people work.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What’s new in Viva Engage (and why it matters for the modern workplace)
• Expert Viva Engage tips to maximize your investment 
• How to use Viva Engage to boost employee engagement and connection 

Whether you're a digital workplace leader, HR pro, or internal comms strategist, these insights will help you unlock the full potential of Viva Engage.

What’s New in Viva Engage: Smarter Features for the Hybrid Workforce

Microsoft has rolled out new features in Viva Engage that make it more powerful, intuitive, and aligned to the evolving needs of hybrid teams.

Copilot in Viva Engage

AI-powered writing assistant for faster, smarter communication

• What it does: Helps you draft posts, summarize threads, and generate responses using AI. 
• Why it matters: Saves time and improves message clarity—especially for internal communications and leadership storytelling. 
• Use Case: A communications manager uses Copilot to draft a Microsoft 365 adoption announcement. The AI suggests clearer, more engaging phrasing in seconds. 

Pro tip: Use Copilot to help your leadership team maintain active Storylines and connect authentically with employees.

Community Analytics for the Digital Workplace

Real-time insights into what’s working (and what’s not)

Microsoft rolled out an enhanced Analytics experience for Viva Engage, transforming raw data into actionable insights tailored for community builders and communicators.

• What it does: Offers real-time engagement data, expanded date ranges (7, 28, 90, 365 days), and CSV export. Highlights top conversations, sentiment indicators, and engagement breakdowns. Gives advanced metrics to licensed community admins: “time saved,” “people helped,” “new members,” and “inactive threads”
• Why it matters: Helps community managers and comms teams optimize their content strategy. Identifies what matters to your people (e.g., which threads spark conversation). Shines a light on silent frustrations (unanswered questions, dormant threads) and helps you reengage or close the loop.
• Use Case: A community manager sees a high-performing Q&A thread via the “top conversations” table. They respond, pin it, then start more threads on similar topics. Or, for silent queries flagged as “unanswered,” they proactively engage, closing gaps in help and knowledge-share.

Analytics isn’t just about numbers. It's about listening at scale.

• Detect your culture: Sentiment trends reveal undercurrents—enthusiasm, confusion, worry. 
• Measure impact: “Time saved” shows how Q&A improves efficiency. 
• Nurture engagement: Spot contributors early and amplify their impact, encouraging peer-led growth.

Theme Moderation in Viva Engage

AI-powered oversight for safer, more focused communities

Theme moderation isn’t just about policing content, it’s about curating trust.

By managing tone and relevance, your Viva Engage community becomes a safe, reliable space. A critical step in maintaining strong employee engagement.

• What it does: Uses AI-detected "themes", broad topics or keywords to scan conversations across languages and context.  Automatically mute thread visibility from the feed and email digests for off-theme or disruptive discussions.  Flag conversations for review via the detected-conversations dashboard.
• Why it matters: Enhances digital workplace governance—ensuring community spaces stay focused and professional.  Enables scalable moderation across global, multilingual threads without manual oversight.
• Use Case: A comms lead for the “Employee Recognition” community defines a theme like “complaint escalation.” Any conversation veering off-topic (or containing sensitive content) is auto-muted and sent to reviewers—ensuring conversations stay constructive and aligned with community goals.

Copilot Adoption Community Now Available for All Viva Engage Customers

A plug‑and‑play hub for Copilot learning and peer support

Microsoft recently opened access to the Copilot Adoption Community to all Viva Engage customers, regardless of existing Copilot licenses.

• What it does: A ready-made community template with onboarding checklist, expert roles, and suggested content. Supports Q&A, best‑practice sharing, prompt discovery, and peer support around Microsoft 365 Copilot. Analytics built in to track member activity and question responses
• Why it matters: Provides a central space to build Copilot fluency, share prompt techniques, and answer real‑world questions. Lowers friction for employees exploring Microsoft 365 Copilot, driving stronger user adoption and satisfaction. Customers have reported up to 22% higher M365 Copilot adoption rates when leveraging this community
• Use Case: A communication leader launches the Copilot Adoption Community from the admin banner. This is a great community to grow your Copilot adoption efforts, monitor staff questions, pin resources, and post starter prompts.

This community isn’t just another feature, it’s a strategic activation platform. It empowers peer learning, reinforces behavioral change, and encourages experimentation with AI across your digital workplace.

Viva Engage Tips to Maximize Employee Engagement

Want to improve adoption and drive real connection in Viva Engage? Start with these practical tips:

Follow and Bookmark Threads

Why: Help employees stay engaged without feeling overwhelmed.

Try this: Follow a conversation to receive updates—or bookmark it to return later.

Impact: Maintains connection to high-value conversations without drowning in noise.

Pro tip: Encourage leaders to model this by following AMAs or campaign threads.

Tag Topics with Intention

Why: Topics make content discoverable and purposeful.

Try this: Use consistent, intuitive topic tags (like “benefits,” “events,” “leadership”) so others can explore related content easily.

Impact: Strengthens search, encourages browsing, and builds knowledge hubs organically.

Pro tip: Create a topic tagging guide for your top communities.

Embed Viva Engage in Daily Workflows

Why: Make it frictionless to participate, right where people already work.

Try this: Add Viva Engage as a tab in Microsoft Teams, integrate it into Outlook, or surface it on your SharePoint intranet.

Impact: Increases visibility and lowers the barrier to engagement.

Bonus: Use Viva Connections to spotlight active communities on your home site.

Celebrate and Recognize Contributions

Why: Recognition fuels participation and community trust.

Try this: Call out valuable posts, tag helpful replies, and highlight community champions regularly.

Impact: Builds a culture where employees feel seen, valued, and motivated to contribute again.

Pro tip: Start a monthly “Top Contributor” shoutout using community analytics.

Employee engagement thrives when people feel seen, heard, and connected, Viva Engage makes that possible.

Empower Your Digital Workplace with Viva Engage

Viva Engage isn’t just a feature of Microsoft 365, it’s a foundational platform for employee engagement and culture-building in the modern digital workplace.

Whether you’re just starting out or looking to evolve your strategy, the right approach to Viva Engage can:

• Increase engagement
• Strengthen culture
• Boost productivity
• Make leadership more visible and human

So don’t just roll out the tool, champion the change. Help your people connect, collaborate, and thrive, no matter where they work.

Closing Thoughts

Are You New to Viva Engage?

Start by joining a community, replying to a thread, or posting a simple update. Connection starts with one message.

Still not sure where to begin? We help organizations design, launch, and scale impactful digital communities inside Microsoft 365. Contact us to talk about your Viva strategy.

Viva Engage Permissions Toolkit

Discover the Full Potential of Viva Engage with Our Comprehensive Admin Role Comparison Guide.