MC1552389: Microsoft 365 Copilot Cowork Adds Workforce Intelligence Plugin for Organizational Insights

📢 Official Microsoft Message Center Announcement

[What and why]

We’re adding the Workforce Intelligence plugin to Microsoft Copilot Cowork and other supported plugin surfaces for tenants enrolled in Frontier. The plugin helps leaders and managers use natural language to explore their organization’s structure, workforce composition, and skills, making it easier to prepare for organizational discussions and identify team-level learning opportunities.

[Rollout schedule]

• Public Preview (Frontier Worldwide): Starting November 16, 2026

[Impact on your organization]

Who is affected

• Users with a Microsoft 365 Copilot license and access to Copilot Cowork in organizations where an admin has opted into the Frontier program, configured Workforce Insights, and made the plugin available

Note: Skills insights also require appropriate People Skills licensing and admin enablement.

Platforms and services

• Microsoft 365 Copilot
• Microsoft Copilot Cowork
• Workforce Insights agent
• Workforce Intelligence plugin
• People Skills

What will happen

• Explore organizational structure: Leaders and managers can ask questions about headcount, roles, functions, reporting relationships, direct reports, management layers, and locations.
• Understand skills and learning opportunities: Users can explore collective strengths, identify opportunities for team-level learning and knowledge sharing, and assess the completeness of skills records.
• Prepare summaries and dashboards: Users can organize workforce findings into summaries or dashboards for leadership discussions.
• Access the plugin: Users can find the Workforce Intelligence plugin in Copilot Cowork by selecting + > Customize and searching for the plugin. Once the plugin is available and enabled, Cowork automatically selects the appropriate skill based on the conversation, so users don’t need to select a skill before asking a question.
• Existing data permissions remain unchanged: Installing the plugin does not grant additional access to workforce data. Responses depend on user permissions, connected data sources, data freshness, and admin-configured governance labels and access policies.
• Admin configuration remains separate: Admins continue to configure organizational terminology, business context, and attribute descriptions in the Workforce Insights agent. These definitions do not modify workforce records or grant additional access.
• Intended use and limitations: The plugin supports organizational discussions and team-level learning. It is not designed for monitoring employee behavior, managing performance, ranking employees or managers, or making employment decisions. It does not provide historical trends, forecasting, or attrition analysis.
• Dashboard sharing: Creating a dashboard does not automatically share, publish, or schedule it for refresh.

Example prompt:

“Help me review my organization for our next leadership discussion. Focus on team sizes, management layers, locations, and opportunities for team-level learning.”

[Action required and recommendations]

To prepare for this feature, admins should:

• Verify prerequisites: Confirm that intended users have Microsoft 365 Copilot licenses and Cowork access, your organization has opted into the Frontier program, and Workforce Insights is configured.
• Enable skills insights (optional): Verify appropriate People Skills licensing and enablement. 
• Make the plugin available: Determine which leaders and managers should have access to the plugin and make it available to them. You can also optionally deploy it automatically to the intended users.
• Review data governance: Verify access policies and governance labels to ensure users can access only permitted workforce data.
• Configure organizational context: Define company-specific terminology and attribute descriptions in the Workforce Insights agent to help ensure responses reflect your organization’s definitions.
• Communicate with users: Explain the plugin’s intended uses and limitations. Remind users that AI-generated responses may be inaccurate or incomplete and should be reviewed before sharing.

Learn more

• Overview of People Skills | Microsoft Learn
• Use plugins with Copilot Cowork | Microsoft Learn
• Workforce Insights agent | Microsoft Learn

[Compliance considerations]

The Workforce Intelligence plugin introduces AI-powered workforce insights through Copilot Cowork while respecting existing data access permissions and organizational governance policies.

• The plugin uses organizational and skills data that users are authorized to access.
• Installing the plugin does not grant additional access to workforce data or change existing access policies.
• Admins control plugin availability and configure organizational context through Workforce Insights.
• AI-generated workforce insights should be reviewed before sharing and should not be used for employee performance evaluation or employment decisions.

Source: Microsoft Message Center • Analysed by MWPro