Human resources (HR) teams are running more surveys, but more responses do not automatically lead to better decisions. With Glint Labs, Microsoft brings together its work on employee listening and introduces a new artificial intelligence (AI) analysis workflow, which administrators will need to distinguish from existing Microsoft Viva Glint features.
Glint Labs refocuses listening on the decisions to be made
Microsoft launched Glint Labs on 28 October 2026 as a space dedicated to Microsoft People Science, that is, applied research on employee experience and changes in the way we work. The Research Drops library is also due to be moved there.
The first report, The Next Generation of Employee Listening, covers employee listening. The term refers to all the methods used to collect and analyse how employees perceive their workplace: surveys, comments, interviews or other internal signals.
74%
of the leaders surveyed are expanding their listening channels
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1 in 3
consider their programme effective at influencing decisions
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83%
believe AI will transform how insights are used
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43%
have a clear view of which AI uses to prioritise
Microsoft
The study is based on 103 employee listening leaders in eight countries, 500 employees and managers in the United States, and 29 practitioners, partners and customers who were interviewed. This scope provides useful guidance, but it is not enough to generalise every result to all sectors or all regions.
Microsoft advocates need-driven listening: start with the question to be solved, then choose the data and the method. In the study published in October 2026, AI went from the fourteenth most discussed topic in surveys the previous year to the top priority planned for the following 12 to 18 months.
Question, evidence, decision
A useful listening programme can be remembered like this: which question needs to be settled, what evidence is required, and which decision will that evidence allow you to make?
Glint Labs, Analyze Survey and Copilot are not interchangeable
Glint Labs is a research destination, whereas Analyze Survey, Copilot in Viva Glint and vivaglint are different ways of working with data. Confusing them would, among other things, lead you to apply one tool's licensing or privacy information to another.
| Term | What it is | What it is for |
|---|---|---|
| Glint Labs | A space dedicated to Microsoft People Science research and tools | Reading studies and discovering analysis methods |
| Analyze Survey skill | A no-code, AI-guided workflow | Producing correlations, factor analysis and attrition analyses |
| Copilot in Viva Glint | AI features built into Microsoft Viva Glint | Surfacing key points and summarising comments |
| vivaglint | An open-source R package under the MIT licence | Analysing Microsoft Viva Glint exports locally with documented statistical methods |
A workflow is a guided sequence of steps. “No-code” here means the user does not need to write a program to run the analysis; it does not remove the need to understand the data or to check the quality of the result.
To place these terms within Microsoft vocabulary, our guide to the 12 Microsoft AI concepts to master in 2026 explains, among other things, the differences between model, assistant, agent and orchestration.
Analyze Survey makes advanced analysis more accessible, with unknowns
The Analyze Survey skill is presented as a guided path able to calculate correlations, run a factor analysis and study attrition, that is, employees leaving. Its potential value is to make these methods accessible to an HR team that does not program in R.
A correlation measures how two variables move together. Factor analysis, for its part, seeks to group several questions around underlying dimensions. You can picture it as sorting cards that cover related themes; the analogy stops there, because the actual grouping depends on a mathematical model and statistical thresholds.
Correlation does not mean causation
If engagement and intent to stay move together, that does not prove that one causes the other. An operational conclusion must be checked against the context, the quality of the data and other possible explanations.
As of 29 October 2026, no Microsoft Learn page covering this skill, its licensing, its availability or its limits had been identified in the additional sources checked. It would therefore be premature to treat it as a service available to all tenants or to attribute to it the terms of Copilot in Viva Glint.
Before a pilot, the administrator should request written confirmation on four points: tenant eligibility, licences, where processing takes place, and data retention. Without those answers, the skill remains an announcement to be evaluated rather than a capability ready to roll out widely.
vivaglint already provides a documented, local route
For analysts who can use R, a statistical analysis language and environment, Microsoft documents the open-source vivaglint package. It already covers full correlations, exploratory factor analysis and linking results to attrition.
The documentation states that processing takes place locally and that no data is sent to Microsoft or to any other service. This property belongs to the R package: it must not be extrapolated to Analyze Survey or Copilot in Viva Glint without corresponding documentation.
Technical prerequisites for vivaglint
- R 4.0 or later
- The optional psych package for factor analysis
- ggplot2 to produce the built-in charts
- Microsoft Viva Glint exports prepared in line with the functions used
- An analysis workstation whose access and local storage are under control
The vivaglint function reference states that extract_survey_factors() applies an oblimin rotation by default and a minimum factor loading threshold of 0.3. A factor loading represents the relationship between a question and the statistical factor it is associated with.
The analyze_by_attributes() function uses a minimum group size of 5. This setting is a default technical threshold, not an automatic privacy guarantee: a small group can still be identifiable by cross-referencing with other attributes.
Copilot in Viva Glint must be checked in VFAM
Copilot in Viva Glint has a better-documented administrative framework. It requires a Viva Glint, Viva Suite or Workplace Analytics and Employee Feedback licence; a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence is not required.
According to Microsoft Learn, the feature is enabled by default and is managed with Viva Feature Access Management (VFAM) in the Microsoft 365 admin center. VFAM is the mechanism used to allow or restrict access to certain Microsoft Viva features. Earlier preview information indicated the opposite, that it was disabled by default: administrators should therefore rely on the current state of their tenant and the documentation in force.
Comment summarisation has several documented limits:
- a maximum of
8,000comments; - prompts limited to
250characters; - saving limited to the current session;
- no comparison between groups or between surveys.
These restrictions make Copilot useful for exploring and summarising a body of comments, but not for replacing a comparative statistical analysis. Wider developments in the ecosystem are tracked in our Microsoft AI Update for July 2026.
Checks to carry out in the tenant
- Verify which users hold an eligible licence
- Review the actual state of the feature in VFAM
- Limit the pilot to populations with a defined business need
- Put controls around exported data and saved summaries
- Plan for human validation before any decision affecting employees
A concrete scenario for choosing the right approach
Imagine a multi-site company that wants to understand the factors associated with intent to leave. It has survey scores, organisational attributes and free-text comments. Its goal is not to “do AI” but to identify HR actions that are sufficiently well supported.
Define the expected decision
The team specifies whether it wants to review management, workload or another measure. A question that is too general will produce results that are hard to use.
Separate statistical analysis from text summarisation
An analyst uses vivaglint to look for correlations and factors in the local exports. Copilot in Viva Glint can summarise the comments, but it must not be used to compare groups or surveys.
Treat Analyze Survey as a separate pilot
If the skill appears in the environment, the team first checks its licensing, its data processing and its limits. It does not assume that it inherits the rules of vivaglint or Copilot.
Have the conclusions reviewed
HR, the analyst and the privacy leads look for bias, groups that are too small and competing explanations. The result is used to inform the decision, not to automate an individual conclusion.
Separating uses in this way avoids two common mistakes: asking a comment summary to demonstrate a statistical relationship, or interpreting a correlation as the cause of someone leaving.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Analyze Survey skill the same as Copilot in Viva Glint?
No. Analyze Survey is presented as a no-code advanced analysis workflow, whereas Copilot in Viva Glint provides, among other things, key points and comment summaries. Their availability, licensing and limits must not be confused.
Do I need a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence?
Not for Copilot in Viva Glint. Microsoft documents a Viva Glint, Viva Suite or Workplace Analytics and Employee Feedback licence, but the licensing terms for Analyze Survey are not documented in the sources verified as of 29 October 2026.
Can I analyse data without sending it to a cloud service?
Yes, with the vivaglint R package: Microsoft Learn states that its processing is local and that no data is sent to Microsoft or to a third party. That statement does not automatically apply to the other tools.
Can Copilot compare two surveys or two groups?
Not for comment summarisation as documented on 29 October 2026. Microsoft states that it does not allow any comparison between groups or between surveys; a separate statistical method is then needed.
Three decisions to make before deployment
Recommended action plan
- Define the business question before selecting a tool
- Check the state of Copilot in Viva Glint in VFAM straight away
- Use vivaglint if local processing and reproducibility are priorities
- Reserve Analyze Survey for a pilot until its licensing and data processing are documented
- Have the results validated by an analyst and by those responsible for data governance
If your organisation already has R skills, vivaglint is the best-documented route for advanced analysis. If the main goal is to help managers browse through comments, start instead with a controlled pilot of Copilot in Viva Glint.
Going further
- vivaglint R package — the available analyses, prerequisites and local processing.
- vivaglint function reference — the parameters and default values of each function.
- Introduction to Microsoft Copilot in Viva Glint — licensing and administrative control with VFAM.
- Copilot in Viva Glint manager guide — practical limits and example prompts.
