Posted on January 18, 2018
Diversity at Microsoft
Courtesy of Blogs Technet
With their most known product called Windows, it only makes sense that Microsoft would open up all their doors and windows to let as many diverse workers as possible to handle their operations. In a recent 2016 report by Thomas Reuters, Microsoft was ranked as the 6th best company for diversity and inclusion, with a 75.25% d&I score. Inclusion is an important part of this rating, as while some companies are diverse, if they do not include those people into all the activities that others have, than having diversity is pointless. Now why is Microsoft ranked so highly among all the other corporations in the world? Throughout this, I will again examine such things as race/ethnicity, gender and age and see what areas that Microsoft can improve in.
Race/Ethnicity
Let’s start with the most commonly talked about portion of diversity; ethnicity ratio among the employees. If Microsoft is highly regarded as a diverse company, one would think that they must be diverse in the most obvious area. Well, that would be correct. In 2016, 58% of the employees were Caucasian, 30.5% were Asian, 5.5% Hispanic, 3.7% African American, and 2.2% other. Now, these stats have also been updated for 2017, where Whites now make up a smaller 56.2%, 31.3% Asians, 5.9% Hispanics, 4.0% African American, and 2.4% other. Not only were these numbers good in 2016, but they even improved in 2017. These numbers would be impressive for any industry. For all industries combined, the averages are 11.9% African American, 6.1% Asian and 16.7% Hispanic. Now obviously, not all industries are the same, so the averages are much different for the computer industry, where 5.6% are African American, 20.6% Asian and 11.1% Hispanic. Looking back at the Microsoft statistics, this puts them slightly below average for Africans Americans and below average for Hispanics, yet highly above average for Asians. While it should be more evenly spread out, the diversity among employees is still above average when considering the percentage of minorities compared to the majority.
Ethnic percentages. Courtesy of Microsoft
Percentages are not the only thing to look at though, and another thing that can be examined is through inclusion of those groups within employee networks. Microsoft has groups ranging from Egyptian to French to Filipino to Korean to Persians, all which focus on including everyone and making everyone a part of a much larger team. With so many different groups and networks working towards inclusion, Microsoft rebounds where they lack in diversity. Now the last part, where a college cannot get graded, is with wages. According to Microsoft, minorities actually make more than there respective counterparts. Minorities make $1.005 for every $1 that a Caucasian makes, a surprising figure. So while Microsoft may have below average percentages of Hispanics and African Americans, they are also paying them better than they would in many other companies. Therefore, Microsoft passes in terms of ethnic diversity and inclusion.
Grade: B+
Gender
While Microsoft is successful with ethnic diversity, where do they rank in terms of gender? Overall, throughout the whole company, males make up 74% of the employees, leaving 25.9% females. Now while the computer industry is known to be fairly male dominated, Microsoft does still rank below the average. The average percentage of females in the workplace at computer industries is 30.4%, so they are almost 5% below the national average. This only worsens when looking at leadership positions, as women at Microsoft then only represent a minuscule 19.1% of those job titles. Yet, in non-tech jobs women represent 38.4% of the workers, and in retail 36.8% of the workers are female. In addition, only 19% of females are employed in the tech field, where men dominate the workers with 81% of the workers. This shows that Microsoft also is not employing that original 25.9% to the same positions that their male counterparts are receiving. Men are receiving more jobs in the more highly regarded positions, whereas women are occupying more sales and hospitality positions. If women are employed in the tech or leadership positions, they may feel out of place, not interacting with many of their co-workers as they would if the gender spread was more equal. This is not ideal for a business, as communication is key, and employees not connecting with each other will cause issues within the smooth flow of the business.
Gender percentages at Microsoft. Courtesy of Microsoft
Microsoft not only lists the equal pay for ethnicity, but also the pay for females compared to males. According to Business Insider, on average, women today make 79 cents for every $1 that men make. This is a shame, but Microsoft is doing their part to end this. Women at Microsoft make exactly $1 for every $1 that their male co-worker would make at the same position. This is something that is rarely seen today, and respect to Microsoft for attempting to end this epidemic that has occurred for years. Although this is true, they still lack equality at certain positions, so Microsoft still has some work to do.
Grade: B
Age
Average age at tech companies. Courtesy of Business Insider
Not only are tech companies usually male dominated, but they are also known to be very young compared to other industries, such as accounting. Microsoft is actually slightly above average compared to other tech companies age wise, with the median age at Microsoft being 33 years old. While this seems extremely low for a median, let’s compare this to other tech companies. Facebook employees have a median age of 28, Google is 30, Apple is 31, Amazon is 32, Dell is 35, and HP is 39. So Microsoft falls right into the middle of these companies, therefore performing well in the age diversity category. They also have a employee network called Boomers at Microsoft, letting the older workers there also network and interact with other co-workers in at the workplace. This allows people from any age to interact and work with each other.
Grade: A
Overall, Microsoft really does attempt to do anything possible to include everyone and have a diverse company. Whether they deserve #6 out of every company is debatable, but they do a satisfactory job at all levels, and this is why they should continue to try to get more diverse, although their inclusion is like no other.
Overall Grade: A-
Very informative post, like the statistics and great grammar. That being said, I do not know if I like the grading system. While it is interesting and definitely different, it makes you come across as an omniscient presence in the issues of diversity whose judgement is the be all end all. Unless you are an expert in this field or have a PhD in sociology, it’s a little short sighted to take your grade for gospel. But that’s just me. Rather than just pass your final judgement, perhaps it could be beneficial to present your audience with evidence and lead them to the conclusion rather than throwing it in their faces (again, just me).