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☆ 'The most taboo topic I've ever seen': Inside Microsoft's war over the war in Gaza
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-28 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +16 min

Viva Engage, Microsoft's slick message board designed to compete with Slack, is often touted as "Facebook for work." In October, according to internal messages viewed by BI, a Microsoft employee shared a post praising child tax credits as a way to reduce poverty. Employees with pro-Palestinian views have also used inflammatory language in their posts on Viva Engage. It has cut off the comments to Viva Engage posts it considered too incendiary. "It's important to recognize the pain and suffering of so many people, including our colleagues, as the events in Israel, Gaza, and the surrounding region continue to unfold," Nadella wrote.

Persons: Slack, —, Sandy Hook, chimed, George Floyd, Satya Nadella, Roe, Wade, Kathleen Hogan, Israel, Nadella, Benjamin Netanyahu, Charlie Bell, Scott Guthrie, Rajesh Jha, Microsoft's, Cherry, Davis Polk, Israel's, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Viva Engage, Facebook, Microsoft, Business, Engage, BI, Employees, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Harvard, Hamas, Wardwell, Ivy League, New York Times, Apple, Amazon Web Services Locations: Israel, Gaza, Uvalde, Columbia, Silicon Valley, America, Haifa, Herzliya , Tel Aviv, Nazareth, Palestine, Gaza . Harvard, Tel Aviv, Seattle

☆ Microsoft shut down an internal employee discussion on the Israel-Hamas war
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-23 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Microsoft shut down a discussion between employees about the Israel-Hamas war, internal messages show. "Amidst the ongoing Palestinian Israeli war, it saddens me to witness a company that so strongly promotes Diversity and Inclusion show such strong discrimination and marginalization," the person wrote. The post does not specifically reference which comments from senior leaders the employee viewed as biased. "We have Palestinian employees globally who are deeply concerned for the safety of their loved ones in the region and stand against these acts of terrorism." Are you a Microsoft employee?

Persons: Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Innocent, Hamas's Organizations: Microsoft, Viva Engage, Microsoft Employee, Group, Hamas, Nvidia Locations: Israel, Palestinian, Gaza

☆ CEOs condemn Hamas attacks and express support for Israel in messages to employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-13 | by ( Beatrice Nolan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

CEOs are condemning Hamas and expressing support for Israel in messages to employees. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Google boss Sundar Pichai have publicly condemned the attacks on social media and issued statements to employees. "Heartbroken by the horrific terrorist attacks on Israel and the escalating conflict," Nadella said in a post on X. "Google has two offices and more than 2,000 employees in Israel, and it's unimaginable what they are experiencing right now." "We stand with our employees, their families and the people of Israel during this time of great suffering and loss."

Persons: Satya Nadella, Sundar Pichai, JPMorgan Chase, Jamie Dimon, —, Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Google's Pichai, 9to5Google, Dimon Organizations: Israel, Microsoft, JPMorgan, Service, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Street Journal, CNN Locations: Israel

☆ Microsoft's Employee Review System Is Still a Bit Like Stack Ranking, Sources Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Some have compared the adjustment process to the controversial practice of "stack ranking," in which managers ranked employees on a forced curve. Some employees feel that the essence of stack ranking has returned with the company's instructions to managers on how to handle this year's employee reviews. This year, Microsoft managers scored employees on a scale from 0 to 200, as they've done previously. The ratings are "Lower Impact Than Expected (LITE)," "Slightly Lower Impact Than Expected (SLITE)," "Successful Impact," and "Exceptional Impact." "If the employee delivered slightly lower impact than expected, their rewards will align below the middle of the opportunity range."

Persons: Steve Ballmer, Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Hogan Organizations: Microsoft, Insider

☆ Under Microsoft's new employee performance ratings, exceeding expectations can still land staff below 'exceptional,' document shows
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-11 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Under Microsoft's new performance ratings, employees can exceed some expectations and still fall below an "exceptional" rating, internal documents viewed by Insider show. In a rubric explaining the new ratings, "successful impact" is defined as when an employee consistently delivered against all expectations, likely exceeding some expectations as well. This results in having high performance expectations for our employees." Successful impact is different than exceptional impact because the latter means "demonstrating sustained, meaningfully higher impact relative to all core priorities," the document states. A Microsoft spokesperson said "successful" is still a high rating, and Microsoft has always had high performance expectations.

Persons: Kathleen Hogan, Hogan Organizations: Microsoft

☆ Leaked Microsoft memo warns managers not to discuss its salary freeze during employee reviews, but to tie 'rewards' to an employee's own 'impact'
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Notably, the company froze salaries this year and cut its budget for bonuses and stock awards. An internal guide tells managers how to answer when employees ask how those changes impact pay. And now a guide for managers conducting performance reviews, viewed by Insider, instructs managers on how to answer when employees ask how these budget cuts impact an individual's pay. Managers should not use the budget cuts as an "explanation" for compensation decisions for individual employees and instead should emphasize that the employee's own "impact" determines "rewards." "Using budgets or factors besides the employee's impact as an explanation for an employee's rewards will erode trust and confidence within your team," the guide continues.

Persons: Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Insider

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Titan sub debris, tough questions at Microsoft, and kei trucks
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-23 | by ( Nathan Rennolds | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Scott Guthrie, Microsoft's executive VP of cloud and AI, oversees Azure and Microsoft 365 cloud software. Microsoft's cloud boss faces tough questions about pay and low morale, leaked messages show. Microsoft employees blasted the company's decision to pause pay raises and cut bonuses and stock awards ahead of a cloud meeting. Son told the company's annual shareholder meeting he believed his firm will be a winner in the AI race thanks to its investments. The tiny Japanese trucks are about 11 feet long and are typically limited to 25 miles an hour.

Persons: Nathan Rennolds, let's, Scott Guthrie, Stephen Lam, he'd, Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Dimitrios Kambouris, Twitter hasn't, Larry Ellison, Elon Musk's, David Tinson, Masayoshi Son, Son, Ziwei Li, Deb Liu, Elon, Mark Zuckerberg, Zuckerberg, Musk, it's, Read, Jack Sommers Organizations: US Navy, Microsoft, Twitter, Oracle, FIFA, Lyft, Getty, Meta Locations: London, Lyft, Japan

☆ Microsoft's cloud boss faces tough questions about pay and low morale, leaked messages show
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-22 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Employees blasted Microsoft's decision to pause raises and low morale ahead of a cloud meeting. Cloud boss Scott Guthrie told employees at the previous meeting no changes would come to raises. Microsoft cloud boss Scott Guthrie is facing tough questions about the company's decision to pause raises and cut bonuses and stock awards ahead of an employee meeting for the Cloud + AI organization. Many of the questions ahead of Guthrie's latest meeting, initially scheduled for June 8 and then canceled, were directed at Microsoft's senior leadership team, internally abbreviated as LT or SLT. Are you a Microsoft employee or do you have insight to share?

Persons: Scott Guthrie, Guthrie, Satya Nadella, Will LT, Kathleen Hogan, Charlie Bell, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Microsoft's

☆ 10 Things in Tech: Low morale at Microsoft
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( Hallam Bullock | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Morale appears to be low at Microsoft. According to internal messages, those changes were another blow to morale, after Microsoft announced it was laying off 10,000 staff in January. In other news:The AGI House is the Bay Area's hottest AI hacker house, hosting dinners, hackathons, and fireside chats on a weekly basis. Founders and VCs are clamoring to get into a $68 million AI hacker house. AGI House, an 18,000 square foot Hillsborough mansion, serves as a hacker house and community hub for the Bay's exploding AI scene.

Persons: Hallam Bullock, Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Stephanie Palazzolo, ElevenLabs, Andreessen Horowitz, Wharton, Eddie Wu, Daniel Zhang, Wu, Meta, Ashley Flowers, Jordan Pettitt, Shona Ghosh Organizations: CBS, US Coast Guard, Microsoft, Workers, Tmall, Getty Locations: London

☆ More Microsoft employees say they would leave if they got another offer, according to an internal poll. It's a sign of falling morale.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-20 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Less than half of the Microsoft employees who answered an internal poll said they'd stay if they got another offer, an internal message suggests. The poll results come after Microsoft paused raises and cut bonus and stock awards. Less than half of Microsoft employees who answered an internal survey called Daily Signals said they would stay at the company if they received a comparable offer, an internal message viewed by Insider suggests. The latest poll came after Microsoft announced it would not give out raises this year and would reduce bonus and stock awards. The change has been another blow to morale for some employees, according to internal messages viewed by Insider.

Persons: they'd, Microsoft's, Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Daily Signals

☆ Leaked Microsoft messages show employees blasting pay cuts and low morale to executives
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Some Microsoft employees have criticized the company's decision to halt raises and cut bonus and stock awards, according to internal messages viewed by Insider that were directed at executives. A later email from Microsoft's chief people officer, Kathleen Hogan, which was viewed by Insider, instructed managers to give fewer employees "exceptional rewards." While the comments may not reflect the feelings of all employees at Microsoft, they provide a window into employee sentiment over these changes. On the all-hands call, Bell said: "Merit increases and employee pay are supply and demand-driven, and for years we have enjoyed bigger paychecks than our peers in other sectors." Are you a Microsoft employee or do you have insight to share?

Persons: Satya Nadella, Kathleen Hogan, Hogan, Nadella, Charlie Bell, We've, LT, Bell, Ashley Stewart Organizations: Microsoft, Employees

☆ An obituary for the Metaverse, the latest fad to join the tech graveyard
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-14 | by ( Matt Turner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On the agenda today:An obituary for the metaverse, the latest fad to join the tech graveyard. BlackRock is wrestling with who could succeed Larry Fink. Also read:Who will succeed Larry Fink? BlackRock CEO Larry Fink Thos Robinson/Getty Images for The New York TimeWall Street has long been fascinated by succession stories. CEO Larry Fink, now 70-years old, has the rare distinction of leading a Wall Street behemoth he helped found.

☆ Leaked Microsoft email instructs managers to give fewer 'exceptional rewards' as it halts raises and cuts the budget for stock awards and bonuses
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Ashley Stewart | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Microsoft plans to halt raises and cut its bonus and stock awards budget, according to an internal email. A separate internal email instructs managers to give fewer employees "exceptional rewards." Microsoft sent managers an email about the company's plan to halt raises and cut its bonus and stock awards budget instructing them to give fewer employees exceptional rewards. Microsoft's spokesperson declined to comment on the email to managers but confirmed the news about halting raises and cutting the bonus and stock award budget. Thank you for navigating a more conservative rewards budget coupled with recent workforce reductions and a challenging and dynamic environment this year.

☆ Microsoft will update harassment policy after report shows pitfalls in handling of complaints
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( Jordan Novet | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Microsoft on Tuesday said it would update sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies after a third-party report showed shortcomings in how the company deals with complaints. The report comes a year after Microsoft shareholders approved a proposal requesting that the board publish a review of workplace sexual harassment policies. Microsoft published a 50-page transparency report from ArentFox on Tuesday. "On July 7, 2019, Person A, a Microsoft employee, reported to Kathleen Hogan that Bill Gates had subjected her to inappropriate communications and conduct," the transparency report said. "In doing so, Person A made references to sexual harassment and the me too movement."

☆ The ridiculous rise of the chief purpose officer — corporate America's half-baked attempt to fix the employee burnout crisis
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Tracy Moore | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Every company on Great Place to Work's ranked list of best employers has a chief purpose officer or purpose among the company's missions and goals. Its chief purpose officer, Kwasi Mitchell, who stepped into the role in 2020, told me that establishing purpose was a powerful talent-retention tool. The same is true for chief purpose officers. And a chief purpose officer can be used as a crutch, a way for a business to say, "Of course, we care," when employees raise issues with the culture. Instead of fixing the burnout problem, these executives can allow management to turn a blind eye and assume all is well, letting workplace rot set in even deeper.

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