What Is People Skills?
People Skills, first launched in Microsoft 365 in April 2025, builds on Viva’s Skills by automatically inferring an individual’s skill set from profile data and activity, then mapping it to a customizable taxonomy.
How It Works in Teams
Starting March 2026 the feature appears on the Teams profile card, letting users see colleagues’ inferred skills without leaving the chat or meeting interface. Admins enable the capability through the Copilot Control System and can set privacy and visibility rules.
Key Benefits
- Quick identification of teammate strengths for project assignments.
- Improved productivity by reducing time spent searching for expertise.
- Enhanced job satisfaction through better role alignment.
- Robust privacy controls let users opt‑out or limit visibility.
Why It Matters
Remote and hybrid work can erode the informal knowledge‑sharing that happens in an office. By surfacing skill data directly in Teams, Microsoft aims to restore that social context, making collaboration more intentional and efficient.