DEI used to make them money, and now it loses them money. It is not surprising they would jettison it.
Treating your employees with respect may not be profitable in the short term, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen.
Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
121–128 of 128 posts
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#122DEI used to make them money, and now it loses them money. It is not surprising they would jettison it.
Treating your employees with respect may not be profitable in the short term, but that doesn’t mean it shouldn’t happen.
DEI has nothing to do with treating your employees with respect.
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The part which is relevant is that he’s willing to break the law in unprecedented ways and has the full support of the Republican Party in doing so. Americans used to pride ourselves on the government not controlling businesses.
The US government has been dictating what company grows and what fails since WWII. Just like every other country.
Really? So like IBM getting big and then fading to Microsoft and then Apple and Google was a government plan? The government decided that American car manufacturers should lose to Japan but then pivoted back for … reasons?
This is not like “every other country”, it’s like corrupt authoritarian countries and you shouldn’t help cover for it by making excuses for corruption.
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you are obliged by the investors too
Not really. This is one of the things Google got right; organize your company so founders have a controlling interest and it doesn't matter fundamentally what the investors think, they can't steer the company. At best, they are trading baseball cards with your corporate logo on them.
I'm speaking about ESG which became somehow mandatory for investors at some point of time. Not mandatory in legal, but cultural sense
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#125Can't see anything lost here. I'm in the awkward camp of neither being in the privileged group but I also don't check off any DEI boxes so I never benefited from it. I'm sure a lot of other people can relate.
It could have been nice if DEI at least made some sense and wasn't just code for black/women but I think people who run these programs might not be the smartest and have the understanding of discrimination of an infantile. Maybe in the future we can have something that actually promotes equality properly and not what Karen from HR thinks it means.
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#126Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's a very basic question. You can meet that by simply treating everyone with integrity and respect. This results in an inclusive workplace. It's not a trick question.
I feel like there’s already HR processes in place for someone who is creating a hostile workplace? I prefer my yearly company expectations to be quantifiable with clear metrics. And instead this is the kind of squishy question that eludes any kind of reasonable metric. And worse, its vagueness could lead to misunderstanding. And even worse, misunderstanding the question in any dimension seems like it could have actua…
> But is that expectation written anywhere?
in many of the F500 orgs I've worked at -- yes it is. unambiguously so.
diversity / inclusion / team building activities were explicitly called out as part of yearly goals and performance review metrics.
things like go to a women-in-tech event and just listen, or a black history month discussion, read a book about homelessness and minority communities, etc. I went on a postmodern literature spree and ended up reading a bunch of african and middle eastern authors and that qualified for the perf review.
the "LBGTQ 5k" is a laughably bad strawman and would never be required for a bunch of reasons.
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#127Earlier quoted context omitted.
I feel like there’s already HR processes in place for someone who is creating a hostile workplace? I prefer my yearly company expectations to be quantifiable with clear metrics. And instead this is the kind of squishy question that eludes any kind of reasonable metric. And worse, its vagueness could lead to misunderstanding. And even worse, misunderstanding the question in any dimension seems like it could have actua…
> But is that expectation written anywhere? in many of the F500 orgs I've worked at -- yes it is . unambiguously so. diversity / inclusion / team building activities were explicitly called out as part of yearly goals and performance review metrics. things like go to a women-in-tech event and just listen, or a black history month discussion, read a book about homelessness and minority communities, etc. I went on a pos…
You guys must really hate running (and love missing the point). It wasn't even intended to be a "bad straw man" -- I literally would be fine running a 5K. If it was a documented example of a way I could meet their expectations for creating an inclusive environment, I would totally run a 5K themed around one of the company-approved causes. Might even lead up a whole group of us from the company to run in it together.
The point was: Do they have actual documented examples of what they want from me when they put this on my performance review:
> What impact did your actions have in contributing to a more diverse and inclusive Microsoft?
I am glad your companies have given you documented examples of what they have wanted in this arena. I'm sure that helped make it easier for you to meet their expectations and avoid any potentially awkward confusion.
Re: Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
#128Due to current admin policies, failing to do this would limit Microsoft's ability to drink from the federal trough. Whatever value they put in diversity is less than they put in large contracts.
At the risk of sounding like an LLM, you're absolutely right! It would be stupid not to kowtow to the current admin given how much business Microsoft does with the US government. The pendulum will swing back, guarantee it.
> The pendulum will swing back, guarantee it.
Unless they find a way to cut the line making it a unconstrained projectile.