Microsoft fires a DEI team: ‘NO LONGER BUSINESS CRITICAL’
‘True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,’ the team leader said.
Several other businesses have also been curbing their DEI initiatives recently.
Microsoft laid off a team that promoted Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) because of the company’s “changing business needs”.
Earlier this month, a leader of the now-defunct DEI team sent an email to Microsoft employees announcing that “[t]rue systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” according to Business Insider.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Campus Reform: “As we move forward, our D&I commitments remain unchanged. Our focus on diversity and inclusion is unwavering and we are holding firm on our expectations, prioritizing accountability, and continuing to focus on this work.”
The spokesperson also told Campus Reform: “Business Insider’s reporting is misleading and mischaracterizes our commitment. The Microsoft D&I team remains intact and our commitment remains unchanged.”
[RELATED: UNC trustee recommends school cut DEI funding]
Businesses and institutions across the nation adopted DEI-related programs and commitments after the death of George Floyd in 2020.
Nearly a month after Floyd’s death, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella published a message to employees promising to “address racial injustice and inequity for the Black and African American community in the United States” and noting the company’s belief that “Black lives matter.”
In the announcement, Nadella also pledged to invest $150 million in DEI initiatives, and to “double the number of Black and African American people managers, senior individual contributors, and senior leaders in the United States by 2025.”
The company’s 2023 Global Diversity & Inclusion Report boasted that “[w]hile the broader Black and African American population at Microsoft declined 2.6% year over year, it has more than doubled since 2019, the highest population growth across all racial and ethnic groups in that time.”
The report also noted Microsoft’s commitment to institute DEI training that teaches the “concepts of allyship, covering, unconscious bias, and privilege.”
[RELATED: House Republican announces caucus to combat DEI in education: ‘Stop the Left’s war on meritocracy’]
Campus Reform has previously reported on several other examples of businesses and schools cracking down on DEI.
This May, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill decided to redirect $2.3 million away from DEI and into a plan to make campus safer following disruptive anti-Israel demonstrations at the school.
On March 1, the University of Florida announced that it has fired all of its DEI employees. $5 million that was originally dedicated for DEI initiatives was channeled instead to support faculty recruitment.
Prominent banks such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp. and JP Morgan, have all reassessed and curbed their DEI initiatives, as Campus Reform reported in March. Goldman Sachs, for example, opened up a “Possibilities Summit” for white students after the event was previously restricted by race.
Campus Reform has contacted Microsoft for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.
