A Year After an HR Crisis, Microsoft Backs Away From Releasing a Transparency Report (medium.com) 42
An anonymous reader shares a report: On March 20, 2019, a Microsoft employee who had been at the company for three years sent an email to a collection of listservs for women at the company, asking how to move up in the organization. She had worked for years without a promotion, and said that her career had been limited because she was a woman. It was a spark to a tinderbox. In the next few days, dozens and dozens of other women replied to the message, each sharing frustration and stories of discrimination and harassment at the company. Some said they had been subject to overt abuse, like being called a "bitch" during business functions, and others said they had been sexually harassed with no ramifications to the harassers. Microsoft's top executives, including CEO Satya Nadella and top Human Resources (HR) exec Kathleen Hogan, were quickly CC'd on the chain. "This thread has pulled the scab off a festering wound. The collective anger and frustration is palpable. A wide audience is now listening. And you know what? I'm good with that," a Microsoft employee wrote in the email chain at the time.
On April 15, 2019, Nadella responded with an email to the entire company, promising reforms to HR that would better serve employees, as well as an annual transparency report that would tell employees how many cases were investigated and how they were resolved. More than a year later, Microsoft has not released this transparency report, and a company spokesperson would not commit to Microsoft doing so when directly asked by OneZero. It's also unclear how much better life is for employees who have faced discrimination and harassment. Five former and current employees who have interacted with Microsoft's human resources department in the last year say there hasn't been a noticeable difference in the way cases have been handled since last March. Two of the former employees left the company during the last year, and told OneZero that a lack of HR action was a primary reason for leaving.
On April 15, 2019, Nadella responded with an email to the entire company, promising reforms to HR that would better serve employees, as well as an annual transparency report that would tell employees how many cases were investigated and how they were resolved. More than a year later, Microsoft has not released this transparency report, and a company spokesperson would not commit to Microsoft doing so when directly asked by OneZero. It's also unclear how much better life is for employees who have faced discrimination and harassment. Five former and current employees who have interacted with Microsoft's human resources department in the last year say there hasn't been a noticeable difference in the way cases have been handled since last March. Two of the former employees left the company during the last year, and told OneZero that a lack of HR action was a primary reason for leaving.
Do wounds work that way? (Score:5, Funny)
Pull a scab off a festering wound?
I thought a wound is festering when it doesn't form a scab owing to an infection or other causes?
HR is not there for the employee (Score:5, Insightful)
And they are NOT your friend.
Their job is to keep the employees in line, hire and fire them, while keeping the company from being sued or running afoul of employment laws.
THEIR LOYALTY IS TO THE COMPANY, and they will not take your side, unless it benefits the company.
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It's even stupider than that.
Their loyalty to the company is in the most inane short term way. They will do their utmost to deny, minimize and hide blatantly illegal behavior to "protect the company" which works great right up until the first lawsuit or major PR fuckup. At that point it turns out they've actually give more damage by not fixing the problems.
If you believe in karma, HR stooges are the kind of assholes who did a shit job of being a cockroach in a previous life and got demoted.
You don't work in
Not enough white guys left to blame. (Score:2, Insightful)
That's why this can't go anywhere.
Re: Not enough white guys left to blame. (Score:1)
Just go to PaleScapeGoat4rent.com
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Maybe can finally start blaming the Indian guys for something they're actually responsible for. Some of the most sexist coworkers I've had have been from the subcontinent.
Re:Not enough white guys left to blame. (Score:5, Insightful)
The racist/sexist attitude that "all white men are evil" is but one problem among many. It is entirely possible that there is also a real problem of discrimination against women at Microsoft. Speaking out is the first and best thing that should be done about such problems, so they can be corrected.
I feel inclined, though, to answer the question put in the summary "how to move up in the organization," with an answer that is true no matter where one works, nor what one's gender/race might be:
1) Cultivate competence in yourself.
2) Lean in.
3) Trade-up.
To elaborate:
1) You need the skills. There may be some people who rise to high ranks due to nepotism or other meritless circumstances, but for most of us this just isn't a solid success strategy. You need not only specific job-skills (such as technical competence), but also and always communication, persuasion, and leadership skills. Everyone in every role needs all three, and the higher up you go the more you need all three. There are MANY books written on these topics. Hit up your library.
2) Sometimes leadership promotes people on their competence alone. It does happen, when leadership is particularly competent. They reach out to you, tell you how good a job you are doing, and give you raises and promotions. EVERYONE wants this. But the fact is, it is RARE. Extremely so. You cannot count on such treatment if you wish to advance your career, no matter what your race/gender may be. You must actively advocate for your own advancement. The bigger the organization, the more people there are who are competing for that advancement. You can't achieve promotion by cooperative means alone. You must out-compete those co-workers of yours who also want to be promoted. That's just life, deal with it. If you are really uncomfortable with this, that is going to limit your career, and discrimination lawsuits won't fix it. Some therapists offer "assertiveness training" to help with this issue. And also there are plenty of self-help books written about this. But you will need to accept that competence and success in your role just aren't enough to get promoted: you are going to have to push.
3) If the above fails, find another job. But when you switch jobs, switch out to a higher position than the one you are in now. Employers are often keen on poaching unrecognised talent from other organizations, and the fact that you have a job is already a demonstration of your competence (which makes you more desirable in their eyes, because you have already been vetted.) Don't get stuck on the false narrative that employers value loyalty so they don't want to hire someone who is leaving for a promotion, out of fear that you will then turn around and leave THEM for a promotion. That is a fairy-tale and is not reflective of what goes through peoples minds as they are interviewing you.
So, there's my advice, for whoever wants it.
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Maybe it's different in the US but here companies have a responsibility to promote based on competence, with competence measured in a way that doesn't discriminate based on gender.
If the system requires people to aggressively pursue promotion it probably won't be legal.
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If you have two competent people and need to promote one to supervisor you'll pick the one with the best leadership skills and the most confidence. The one that can advocate for themselves the best is likely to get the job if both are about the same competency level.
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But also unless the company is really small there will be another promotion opportunity for the other person quite soon.
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If employers valued loyalty, they would up-skill their own employees, thereby getting the trained staff needed and giving employees a reason to stay. But public-style education is inefficient so corporations avoid it.
It's far cheaper to find someone else's overworked employee who knows he's underpaid but willing to settle for a modest pay-rise.
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That's not how today's market works; you need to look out for, and taken care of, yourself.
There's something to be said, too, about bringing in outside talent. Different perspectives outside of the corporate culture can bring positive changes. I'm far more valuable as an employee because of my experiences at different places than had I stayed put at my first job, for instance.
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> There are MANY books written on these topics. Hit up your library.
I rather don't. My library's weight is several times my own, and it has a short temper.
A Report So Transparent... (Score:5, Funny)
A report so transparent that it cannot be seen.
Just like some other current issues (Score:2)
If you don't report something to the public (or in this case, the company) it certainly doesn't appear to exist.
My experience at MSFT... (Score:1)
... was that racism is allowed to run rampant, as long as it's only targeting white people. Sexism against women seems like it's pretty much the norm, but it's actually really difficult to tell if it's sexism or racism, because many of the affected women are also white. See previous comment regarding racism.
On my team when I was there, we had a saying, quietly uttered behind closed doors and in the hallways late at night (when pretty much only the white guys were working, because we were given a dispropor
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... was that racism is allowed to run rampant, as long as it's only targeting white people. Sexism against women seems like it's pretty much the norm, but it's actually really difficult to tell if it's sexism or racism, because many of the affected women are also white. See previous comment regarding racism.
On my team when I was there, we had a saying, quietly uttered behind closed doors and in the hallways late at night (when pretty much only the white guys were working, because we were given a disproportionate share of the workload), that the easiest way to get promoted was to be Indian. That was how everything appeared to work in the org I was part of, with highly deserving white, black, hispanic, and asian people being passed over for bonuses and promotions while Indians who were known as talentless, back-stabbing hacks who sat around taking credit for other peoples' work got all the praise and promotion.
This was all pre-Satya, so who knows how things are now. At the time, it was pretty much accepted that any white person who raised any sort of complaint would rapidly find themselves at the very least without a bonus, and most likely on a PIP if not removed from the company. We didn't dare talk to HR, as it was far easier to remover the one reporting the issues than the one(s) causing the issues. After years of working there, my first mention of that issue to HR was during my exit interview, when they really had no further power over me.
I understand there's a huge racism issue with different Indian castes. Cisco is being investigated:
https://timesofindia.indiatime... [indiatimes.com]
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Re: My experience at MSFT... (Score:1)
So, you're telling me the guys staying late writing code remained in coding positions, while the guys who knocked off early and vocalized achievements for themselves were promoted to management... ...and you think this is a race thing?
Maybe you're a bit racist and that's why you don't get promoted...
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Not exactly... rather, I'm saying the people who stayed late to get the job done, and done well, had their bonuses withheld while those who knocked off early and went to play golf were given bonuses and promoted, *as long as* those people were also Indian. Those who were white, and knocked off early to go play golf, weren't kept around.
In the end, I promoted myself to alumnus, while the same management team who had just withheld my bonus told me how much they needed me, and begged me to stay. Life is bett
Re: My experience at MSFT... (Score:1)
And now I bet you don't even work at MS, nor ever have, and are just the guy who usually posts about "shitty smelly hindu-chimps".
Corporate Arrogance (Score:1)
"...It's also unclear how much better life is for employees who have faced discrimination and harassment."
On a related note, if the future is unclear at this point, allow me to clarify.
COVID emboldens employers to act even more arrogantly than they did before. With massive numbers feeding unemployment, employers aren't exactly facing limited options anymore when it comes to hiring. It will get far uglier, with corporations firing those seasoned (read: expensive) employees, while giving a 20% pay cut to the rest as a generous offer in a Fuck You Very Much kind of way, knowing the indentured servants will be ha
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"COVID emboldens employers to act even more arrogantly than they did before. With massive numbers feeding unemployment, employers aren't exactly facing limited options anymore when it comes to hiring. It will get far uglier, with corporations firing those seasoned (read: expensive) employees, while giving a 20% pay cut to the rest as a generous offer in a Fuck You Very Much kind of way, knowing the indentured servants will be happy to take it.
Watch and see how Greed acts in the face of COVID. Then don't act
Poor baby (Score:2)
Three years without a promotion. Big deal. What's the matter, doesn't she like her job and wants to do something different? Then look elsewhere.
Asking challenging questions in a manner that can be traced back to you, on the corporate net, is proof of stupidity too deep to be allowed to advance in the corporate hierarchy.
Weird. (Score:5, Insightful)
I haven't had a promotion in years either. Unfortunately, I'm a dudebro so I don't get to chalk it up to some *ism.
Seriously, why the fuck is people's first stop "[rac|sex]ism is the only explanation". I run into assholes all the time, but when I do it's just an asshole, not some evil racist|sexist. If I were other than a dudebro I get to chalk it up to my gender or race? If I'm not working hard enough to get a promotion, I have to look at my work and admit that I'm where I should be, but if I'm female or of a different race I get to automatically skip that decision process "hmm.. must be *ism".
That dude who got promoted, why it's not because he's the person everyone goes to with questions and who works his ass off - I've been here longer so it must be because of *ism.
People are so fucking self deluded and entitled, and these companies are feeding into it. I guess the companies will get what they deserve in the end when they fail because they are short-circuiting meritocracy.
You can't cheat reality. No matter what you do eventually the best people (most talented|hardest working) will win. Real racism/sexism needs to be rooted out with no tolerance, but results will ultimately speak for themselves.
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Add the summary points out it's not just one asshole, it's a large number of similar cases that strongly suggest a systemic problem. Microsoft were supposed to be determining if that is the case, but for some reason have decided not to publish the report the promised to publish.
The only reason they have not to publish is that it's really bad. Bad enough to result in lawsuits.
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The systemic failure isn't necessarily with the company. My brother-in-law is the head lawyer for his department (not by choice - there were mergers and he was the top lawyer retained because his work was the most competent). Due to his position, he has to make all the calls about promotions and raises in his department. He would much rather be doing lawyer work, than having
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I went over 25 years without a promotion. During most of that time it was pretty much received wisdom that if you wanted to move up, you changed companies.... so I did. Like you, I'm a white male, which means I have "privilege" -- that is, the irrebuttable presumption that anything bad that happens to me is my own fault and no one else's.
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Re: Weird. (Score:1)
Why not? Sexism against dudebros is all the rage nowadays! Everyone knows it!
The trick thar you and I have a problem with, is seeing yourself as a victim and weak.
Bulles of yesteryear weren't victims. They attacked themselves!
Bullies of nowadays play the victim role! You cry, with real tears, you create compassion, and you let those *others* that you trolled do the bullying for you! Like a mail server acting as a multiplicator for your e-mail with a 1000 recipients who are all the same address.
I know, I kno
Now you did it (Score:2)
You nearly knocked the fedoras off these poor peoples' heads! Think of the Doritos dust stains those hats will suffer upon being picked up.
Re: Now you did it (Score:1)
Just asking for all of us Slashdot users: Seriously? ... Why are you such a hateful trolling bully asshole?
Only way to move up at MSFT is to be XX (Score:2)
Women at Work (Score:2)
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Careful, you sound like an unscientific version of James Damore. We know how that ended.
Someone had the balls to point out how patriarchy gives corporations full latitude to design jobs that are unhealthy for all Americans, not just women. The result? The person was fired, excoriated as a sexist bigot, and the ossified patriarchal systems that corporations use to exploit all workers were successfully defended by feminists across the globe.
Who knew the next wave of feminists would turn out to be authorita
The whole concept of "moving up" is ridiculous! (Score:1)
"Hey, I'm a good programmer! No, I'm a *great* programmer! I'm so great I have to 'move up'! To a team leader / management position! Which is an entirely and completely different job that I am completely clueless at! *GENIUS*!"
This would not be the problem, if team management wasn't somehow considered more valuable than everything else. Even though it is a job on the level of a custodian. All it entails, is saying no, whenever something isn't what the boss said the company should be. That's it. Everything
A Month To Respond? (Score:2)
The OP then goes on to state, "In the next few days, dozens and dozens of other women replied to the message, each sharing frustration and stories of discrimination and harassment at the company.". Obviously, without having more data about the distribution rate [the OP implies this was a public comment to an internal discussion forum] it is dif
What's The Non-Sexist Perjorative Offensive Noun? (Score:1)
So, calling a woman a bitch is now instantly sexist. Can't do that. Nope nope nope. But there are numerous cases where people need to be labeled or called names because of their work/actions, or behavior, or demeanor... These people need to be offended and put on notice that you're sick of their shit.
I can't begin to guess how many times I've called people, irrespective of their race or gender or anything else, names like dick, asshole, worthless motherfucker, cock sucking piece of shit... You get the idea.