How Microsoft reduced interruptions and helped employees control their time in a “workplace of the future”
Results
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Fewer interruptions. A visible status signal helped colleagues respect focus time.
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Higher productivity. Less context switching in a high-interruption environment.
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Stronger Teams adoption. Presence and call alerts became physical and easier to notice.
3 quick facts
- Industry: Technology
- Team size: 850 employees (Microsoft Denmark + Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen)
- Rollout approach: Implemented as part of a new office move and Teams-enabled workplace setup
The situation
Two Microsoft divisions in Denmark moved into a new office designed as a “workplace of the future.” It was built for flexibility and collaboration. It also came with an open-office reality: 850 employees, 309 seats, and 230 meeting rooms.
In that environment, people are constantly visible and constantly reachable. That’s great for ad-hoc collaboration. It can be brutal for focus.
The problem in human terms
Employees needed a simple way to protect deep work without appearing unhelpful. When interruptions happen all day, work becomes reactive. Teams lose flow, calls get missed, and “quick questions” quietly steal hours.
The constraints
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Open office, shared seating: People are close together and constantly approached.
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High collaboration by design: The space encourages interaction, which increases interruption risk.
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Teams usage at scale: Presence and call alerts needed to be noticed, not ignored.
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Behavior change without friction: The solution had to feel natural, not enforced.
The solution
Microsoft deployed kuando Busylight in the new building as a physical way to make status visible and protect attention.
Busylight sits in the day-to-day workflow by:
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Making Teams presence visible in the physical space
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Giving a clear, non-verbal signal for busy, available, and do-not-disturb
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Providing alerts for calls and messages so people don’t have to rely on screen-only cues
Rollout
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Implemented in connection with the move into the new office
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Adopted quickly because it fits open-office behavior. People see it, understand it, and adjust
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Reinforced a shared etiquette: if a colleague is occupied, you don’t interrupt. You time it better
Results
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Reduced interruptions and better respect for focus time in a highly social work environment
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Employees gained more ability to control their time and the way they work
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Improved Teams user adoption because presence became tangible and call alerts became harder to miss
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Increased awareness of the true cost of interruptions, including the time it can take to regain focus
What they would tell another buyer
If you design a workplace for collaboration, you also need a system that protects concentration. A visible presence signal is one of the easiest ways to create better etiquette without meetings, policing, or constant reminders.
“The reason why Microsoft has deployed Busylight in our new office building is because we are sitting in open office space, and we need to help our employees reduce the interruptions they experience every single day at work. It helps people respect each other’s time.”
“Busylight is an excellent example of a piece of hardware that actually can improve the user adaptation of Teams overall because you get a physical thing that shows if you are online or not… But also when you are receiving calls or instant messages. then you get an alert in Busylight.”
Busylight.com is the sales and marketing department for Plenom A/S, the creator of Kuando Busylight.
Our mission is to increase awareness of Kuando Busylight products, ensuring workplaces worldwide understand the significance and value of implementing our products in the office environment.
We take pride in our products and enjoy inspiring our customers to explore and make use of the diverse features that these small indicator lights offer.