As companies and employees settle into new work norms post-pandemic, we’re living through a once-in-a-lifetime shift in work patterns. Whether work happens from home, at the office, in a warehouse or on the go, work is no longer a place, but an experience that transcends place and time.

Over the past two-and-a-half years, new patterns of work have emerged that put people, communications, and workflows at the center. In that time, Microsoft Teams has grown to 270 million monthly active users, becoming the most ubiquitous platform for workplace collaboration and business processes. Teams’ growth is a sign of how work has changed, and where it’s going.

People crave deeper, richer ways of collaborating and co-creating from wherever they are. We believe that in the not-so-distant future, the metaverse will play a key role in providing new ways of connecting. In fact, our Work Trend Index data shows that 50% of Gen Z and millennials envision doing some of their work in the metaverse in the next two years.