Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based productivity and collaboration software suite that includes programs such as Microsoft Word, Teams, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and OneDrive. Since COVID first shut the world down, the 365 team has been particularly focused on how to help people adapt to radically new ways of working—to, as Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella put it, “stay open for business in a world of remote everything.” Central to that effort, the team determined, would be to leverage the vast trove of data and insights generated by Microsoft’s legendary research group into the future of work. Microsoft hoped to provide an invaluable service in a time of great uncertainty and stand out as a rightful authority on work in a world gone truly digital. The company asked our experienced team of editors, journalists, and designers to help bring its insights to life in a new digital publication.

WorkLab is a digital publication that explores the science and ingenuity of work at this pivotal moment. The site launched in January 2021 and is produced by Microsoft in collaboration with our agency. The intent of WorkLab is not to drive prospects “down-funnel.” It’s to serve as a beacon of insight in a time of great uncertainty and change for a range of audiences, including employees, consumers, customers—and especially business decision makers. Upholding the best practices of true service journalism and editorial design, WorkLab showcases the ideas and experiences of experts both inside and outside Microsoft. It speaks with an optimistic, empowering voice that runs through all elements of story and design, from illustrations and data visualizations to the WorkLab podcast and overall digital experience.

Employing the journalistic tools that our team has used in “traditional” media, we pitch, report, and edit WorkLab stories—from longform features to quick-hit think pieces to data visualizations—and oversees all design elements. Our creative team commissions artists to craft a distinctively bright and optimistic look for illustrations, animations, and infographics.

WorkLab stories are based on Microsoft’s ongoing research into how people are adapting to new ways of working. What are best practices for hybrid meetings? How did remote work affect people’s workday schedules? How should you onboard someone you’ve never met in person?

We’ve published several dozen stories, as well as Microsoft’s annual Work Trend Index report, a global survey that provides data-driven insights to help people and organizations thrive amid ongoing change. Based on WorkLab’s success, Microsoft also asked us to produce the WorkLab podcast. We’re midway through the second season.

In one year, WorkLab received about 1 million unique visitors and spurred strong media interest. The latest Work Trend Index report—about making hybrid work actually work—garnered coverage in Fortune, Bloomberg, HBR, The Verge, The Associated Press, CNBC, and CNN. The Atlantic covered our piece on the rise of the “triple peak day,” based on Microsoft data, which spurred attention from Inc., Protocol, and NPR, among others.

In March, Fast Company named Microsoft the No. 8 most innovative company in the world (No. 1 for data science). It cited WorkLab’s Work Trend Index as a platform whose data informs development of Microsoft’s new products and tools. Microsoft’s human, modern vision for work is a key factor contributing to its success (revenues spiked 20 percent in the quarter ending in December). As Fast Company wrote, “no company is in a better position to help take the pain out of productivity.”