Geek Guru Blog

Tech giants like Google and Microsoft have been best placed, during the pandemic, to provide tools to analyse productivity and highlight issues that may arise due to the change in working conditions for many people. Rather than make their own foray into the world of wellness apps, Microsoft have partnered with Headspace to give people a few additional tools on their Teams platform.

In the last post of our series on Headspace, we’ll have a look at what this partnership includes, and also take a short look at the Headspace documentary series on Netflix.

Microsoft Teams and Headspace

Announced at Microsoft Ignite in September 2020 as part of its “Virtual Commute” feature (which in turn is part of Personal Productivity Insights in MyAnalytics), Microsoft’s partnership with Headspace aims to offer its services to Teams users, and is set to roll out during the first half of 2021. The idea is to provide people with a period of time at the beginning and end of the day to make it easier to separate work life from home life, but without a physical commute; an important distinction to make, especially as people are likely to work more overtime or weekends when working from home.

By offering short meditations via a “Give your mind a break” prompt, Teams enables more users to take advantage of a service they might otherwise not have used, and may find beneficial. A “How are you feeling?” mood tracker is also available, to help them spot any potential trends in how they’re dealing with certain activities or projects – answers are kept private and only viewable by the user.

Headspace Guide to Meditation on Netflix

Another recent addition to Netflix is this series by Headspace, which aims to introduce people to the basics of meditation and what it can do to help improve concentration and productivity, and help to reduce stress.

Along with a one-episode introduction to the basics of meditation for even the most inexperienced, the series consists of eight 20-minute episodes covering some of the possible scenarios where meditation can come in handy, and how to use it to help yourself. Situations such as stress and anger management are at the forefront, but interesting insights on other topics are also available, like how to use meditation to realise your potential, manage the psychological effects of pain, or learn to let go of things that could be getting in the way.

Next week we’ll be looking into “Zoom Fatigue” – its causes and what you can do to minimise or prevent its effects.

Need help with hardware or software to keep your team focused and productive while working remotely? We can help! Give us a call on 0121 312 1500 or email us at info@geek-guru.co.uk.