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What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

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Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#121

Post by inglor_cz »

systemvoltage wrote: post #96
inglor_cz wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is also possible that those companies will be suffocated by the fact that banks won't extend credit to them (ESG) or angry Twitter will pressure potential customers not to do business with them.

True, this is actually happening as we speak. There will be a bifurcation, once enough flywheel speed has picked up; ESG funds will see competitor funds that will outperform. No wasting money on greenwashing or other ESG bullshit. Totalitarianism has to fight a war with reality and facts. It is unsustainable (pardon the pun).

It is likely that some foreign funds (Arab, Chinese) won't give a damn about ESG anytime soon, if at all.

That said, this is how you end with critical technology in potential adversaries' hands.

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#122

Post by troon-lover »

stonogo wrote: post #80
chernevik wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "If your team looks like that, your team is horrible too, no matter how much you tell yourself it's not." Yes, it's true. There has never been a strong team of young, white nerdy men. Never happened. Technological and engineering progress was at a baffling standstill for centuries until the wisdom of diversity, inclusion and equity dawned upon us.

Your sarcasm would work better if anyone understood what the hell you were trying to refer to. You seem to ascribe "technological and engineering progress" exclusively to teams of young, white, nerdy men in this comment, which is clearly something only an idiot would do, so I presume you are trying to make a different, better point. Feel free to let us know what that might be.

No post body was provided.

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#123

Post by phillipcarter »

Ugh, another one of these.

> There weren’t any quotas around how many of these “diverse” candidates I had to actually hire, but I was pretty sure my corporate vice president would be more likely to promote people who had hired more of them and thus made his contribution to the annual D&I report look good.

Correct, there aren't quotas, but of course that doesn't stop the author from speculating that there might be, and basing the rest of the article on that.

> Again, there was no quota, but it seemed clear that promoting this person would have made HR and my corporate vice president happy.

Missing here is how BIPOC and women have been systemically under-promoted relative to their work output, and yes, although there is no quota, someone is checking in to make sure a manager (i.e., someone who has power over their reports' lives) is aware of systemic biases when approaching their decision-making. What is terrible about this exactly?

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#124

Post by pclmulqdq »

bergenty wrote: post #48
Decker87 wrote: post #23

At this moment in time I think companies can gain a major hiring advantage by simply hiring the best regardless of race/gender. So many large companies are shooting themselves in the foot distorting incentives and saying "no" to people who are the wrong color/gender.

Quoted post unavailable.

I have found that this is absolutely true, but not in the way you are thinking.

The highest performing team I have been on had people from 4 continents, ran the gamut on political views, had disparate education levels (from literally a high school dropout to PhDs from prestigious schools), and had people of many races. It had no women and no black people. By the standards of HR, it was not a diverse team at all.

The DEI folks I have worked with want a very specific kind of diversity: They want you to hire people of all genders and colors, but only rich ones from a few schools. They think that school reputation and awards are a better measure of aptitude than an interview or a take-home test (claiming that the test or interviewer is biased).

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#125

Post by omegaworks »

systemvoltage wrote: post #54
Decker87 wrote: post #23

At this moment in time I think companies can gain a major hiring advantage by simply hiring the best regardless of race/gender. So many large companies are shooting themselves in the foot distorting incentives and saying "no" to people who are the wrong color/gender.

I think we're going to see a rise of new companies formed, perhaps not from Silicon Valley, that will reject the whole D&I concept and move forward with complete blindness to race, culture, or gender. They will excel, outperform and form a new age of englightenment. I don't think this will happen because I want it to, it will happen because incentives and fundamentals of operations of a company – i.e., just focus on…

>that will reject the whole D&I concept

This is already the norm in Silicon Valley. D&I awareness is a brand new thing, and mediocre reactionaries like the author pervade existing leadership structures.

Over 50 years ago the US Military recognized that segregation and entrenched racial biases lead to inefficiencies and lack of readiness.[1] In an economy where hiring pipelines for skilled technical people are stretched incredibly thin, we need to be taking a hard look at why we're only getting people that look a certain way through our hiring process.

1. https://twitter.com/pptsapper/status/1579610768638881800

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#126

Post by bjt2n3904 »

Manuel_D wrote: post #33
logicalmonster wrote: post #2

According to the Microsoft 2021 Annual Diversity And Inclusion report, 34.9% of employees identified as Asian in the US, far exceeding their overall representation in the US population. Why are Asians doing so well? Why can't we replicate this for other groups? And doesn't trying to hire more of other races imply that mathematically speaking, fewer Asians must be hired and promoted to achieve greater equality? Please…

> Why are Asians doing so well? "Asians" are 60% of the world population and encompass a huge variety of cultures, as I'm sure many will point out. That said, it's viable to consider trends and averages, especially when scoped-down to Asian Americans specifically, despite the potential for generalization. Two main reasons that are given: Higher overall academic investment and achievement [1]. As per the study, Asians…

There's a third you're completely missing.

Present fathers that raise and discipline their children.

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#127

Post by bergenty »

crackercrews wrote: post #66
bergenty wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

> Hiring the best people invariably leads to hiring a very diverse team If this is true, then I guess affirmative action isn't needed, right?

There’s no affirmative action anywhere. What are you referring to?

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#129

Post by crackercrews »

secondcoming wrote: post #107
stonogo wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your sarcasm would work better if anyone understood what the hell you were trying to refer to. You seem to ascribe "technological and engineering progress" exclusively to teams of young, white, nerdy men in this comment, which is clearly something only an idiot would do, so I presume you are trying to make a different, better point. Feel free to let us know what that might be.

From TFA: > But they make horrible teams.

To be fair, Microsoft Teams is horrible.

Re: What “diversity and inclusion” means at Microsoft

#130

Post by arbitrage »

jimbob45 wrote: post #53
Decker87 wrote: post #23

At this moment in time I think companies can gain a major hiring advantage by simply hiring the best regardless of race/gender. So many large companies are shooting themselves in the foot distorting incentives and saying "no" to people who are the wrong color/gender.

Quoted post unavailable.

No post body was provided.
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