Workplace is an enterprise connectivity platform developed by Facebook, Inc. and includes the use of groups, instant messaging and a news feed. Development is led by Julien Codorniou, Vice President of Workplace, & Karandeep Anand, Head of Workplace.
History
Workplace was first announced on January 14, 2015. It launched in beta as Facebook at Work before officially launching in October 2016. Facebook recognized the importance and need for a Workplace product in 2011, when the company began using Facebook groups for business purposes internally for collaboration and communication. Alongside Facebook Messenger, these private groups helped Facebook employees work more efficiently together by reducing their reliance on email and other Software as a Service tools.
Workplace and Facebook
While Workplace accounts are set up and run separately from Facebook accounts, Workplace benefits from much of the underlying technology that powers Facebook. Data Centers: Workplace data is stored across 12 Facebook-owned data centers. AI: Workplace benefits from Facebook's AI research. Workplace uses machine learning to sort the most relevant information in the news feed and make intelligent recommendations while 'downranking' less valuable information. Safety Check for Workplace: In October 2018, Workplace announced the launch of Safety Check. Originally developed by Facebook engineers after the 2011 Japanese tsunami, Safety Check for Facebook is a way to let friends and family know you’re safe in a crisis, and check on others in the affected area. With Safety Check for Workplace, organizations can identify employees who may be affected by a crisis, send multiple modes of notification, and monitor responses. Safety Check was the most-requested feature from Workplace customers and has been activated by Delta Air Lines.
Reception
Workplace has an aggregated rating of 4 stars from 1,379 reviews on G2, and an aggregated rating of 4 stars from 103 reviews on Gartner PeerInsights. It has been praised as a tool for internal communication and collaboration, but critics have noted that it lacks some project management functionality.
Customers
Workplace is used by over 30,000 organizations. As of March 2020, there are 5 million paying users, but the total number of users, both paid and unpaid, hasn't been disclosed.
Workplace for Good
Workplace for Good was launched in June 2018 to provide a free version of Workplace Premium for registered non-profits and staff of educational institutions.
