Enabling AI‑Driven Workforce Transformation with People Skills and Workforce Insights Agent: April 2026 M365 Champions Community call
In this article, we’ll give you an overview and the main Q&As from our April 2026 M365 Champions call. This month featured insights on “Enabling AI-Driven Workforce Transformation with People Skills and Workforce Insights Agent” presented by Anirudh Bajaj, a Senior Product Manager at Microsoft, along with Jenny Huang, a Senior Customer Experience Program Manager at Microsoft.
We began the call with exciting news about the digital launch of the “More Than Code” SharePoint community film. This documentary-style film features insights from MVPs, customers, and Microsoft leaders. It showcases how connection, creativity, and collaboration can transform a product into a global phenomenon. You can check out the digital premiere here!
Anirudh and Jenny drove this month’s discussion, focusing on the People Skills and Workforce Insights Agent. Anirudh opened by emphasising how businesses need to rethink their AI strategies. Rather than just using AI tools, companies should restructure their workflows to fully leverage them. He introduced People Skills, which aims to help organizations identify workforce skills through AI analytics. By examining Microsoft 365 activities alongside a vast skills database, this solution creates tailored skill profiles for employees, which can be customised as needed. These profiles facilitate various scenarios, such as finding experts and enabling personalized learning. Anirudh stressed the importance of privacy, allowing employees to manage their profiles and control data sharing, while admins can set governance policies.
Next, Anirudh introduced Jenny Huang, who helped us understand the Workforce Insights Agent. This tool assists leaders in translating team skills and data into actionable strategies. Considered essential for strategic workforce planning in a world increasingly driven by AI, Jenny noted how leaders can rapidly assess team composition and identify skills gaps. The agent pulls information from Microsoft 365 profiles and external HR systems, providing real-time insights, visualisations, and recommendations. Key use cases include team composition analysis, spotting hiring needs, and facilitating upskilling initiatives. Currently, the agent is part of the Microsoft Frontier program, focusing on responsible data access and encouraging feedback to enhance its development before full availability.
1. When will the Workforce Insights Agent be generally available (GA)?
Answer: There’s no set GA timeline yet; the team is relying on customer feedback from the Frontier program to assess readiness before moving to GA.
2. Can we implement a two-layer skill approval process to confirm someone’s competency in a specific skill, and define levels (1 – beginner, 5 – expert)?
Answer: We haven’t established expertise levels in People Skills, as ‘expertise’ varies across organisations, which complicates standardisation. However, we’re looking into providing skill depth in specific contexts, such as matching individuals to open roles.
3. What differentiates People Skills AI from Workforce Insights?
Answer: People Skills AI uses data to recommend skills, forming a layer of information that aids decision-making in Copilot and the Workforce Insights Agent.
4. Can you clarify the Agents we’re discussing? I can see the ‘workforce insights’ agent, but I can’t find the ‘Skills’ or ‘People’ Agents.
Answer: The Skills and People agents were retired in March; their capabilities have now merged into M365 Copilot chat and Workforce Insights agent.
5. Can the confirmed skills from People Skills be integrated into systems like Workday for promotions and reviews?
Answer: Yes, confirmed skills can be exported for other platforms, but privacy rules prevent exporting inferred skills.
6. Is Viva Engage included in the E5 licensing package?
Answer: Absolutely! The standard features are part of the E5 licence, which includes community and Teams integration.
7. Are these calls recorded for later review?
Answer: Yes, recordings will be available on the Driving Adoption community and our YouTube Community Learning channel. Only Champion programme members can access the presentation, so if you’re not a member yet, consider joining here.
8. Is joining the Frontier program at an additional cost?
Answer: There’s no extra fee beyond your M365 Copilot licence, but you need to opt in. More info can be found here.
9. Is the People Skills Agent accessible to Copilot Chat Basic users or only to those with premium Copilot versions?
Answer: The People Skills agent was discontinued in March; its functions are now found in M365 Copilot chat and Workforce Insights agent for licensed Copilot users.
10. Can we view aggregated data on the skill levels across the enterprise?
Answer: Yes, although People Skills currently doesn’t provide proficiency levels, the skills landscape report can show aggregate data through Viva Insights or the Workforce Insights agent.
11. Can we incorporate LinkedIn profiles for People Skills inference?
Answer: While you can’t directly link profiles, you can import a list of assigned skills to users for People Skills.
12. Can an organisation map a career path for employees using their People Skills data? How is this displayed?
Answer: Copilot can currently suggest career and learning paths based on users’ skills, but detailed career mapping is not yet supported by People Skills.
13. Are these features managed only by admins? We don’t have admin access in our single tenant.
Answer: Admin controls can be set by users with appropriate roles, such as AI administrator, Knowledge administrator, or Global admin.
14. Will these agents be available in a multi-cloud environment (commercial and GCCH)?
Answer: People Skills is currently exclusive to the WW environment, with no estimated release for GCC yet.
15. Does the PAX API allow third parties access to our tenant’s data? What controls oversee this?
Answer: You can integrate third-party data via connectors or push APIs into MODIS and set access controls there.
16. Who can utilise the Workforce Insights Agent?
Answer: Any user with a Microsoft 365 Copilot licence can access the agent, albeit currently through the Frontier program.
- The tenant must meet requirements, such as having enough Copilot licences.
17. Where does the Workforce Insights Agent source its data?
Answer: The default information comes from Microsoft 365 profiles and can be supplemented with data from:
- HR systems like Workday and SuccessFactors
- APIs or CSV uploads
Keep in mind that best practices for data privacy are strictly enforced.
18. Do users have control over their skills and personal data?
Answer: Yes, users can:
- Confirm, edit, or delete inferred skills
- Add their skills manually
- Opt out of AI inference
- Control sharing of their skills across the organisation
19. Can admins manage how People Skills is rolled out?
Answer: Admins can:
- Enable or disable features by user, group, or tenant
- Control inference and sharing settings
- Implement privacy and compliance policies
- Test the feature in limited scopes before a wider rollout
20. What are the primary applications for the Workforce Insights Agent?
Answer: This agent supports:
- Analysing team structure
- Spotting skill gaps
- Facilitating workforce planning decisions
- Encouraging talent movement and upskilling
We invite you to join us for our next community call on May 26th, where we will focus on Copilot Hub & Agents 365.
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