Diversity & Inclusion Report

Transparency fuels accountability, and accountability builds trust. As one of the most transparent companies of our size, we regularly share our D&I progress with employees and the public.

In this year’s report, we again expanded the types of data and insights we include and share necessary context for that data to shed light on our accountability and commitments.

To accelerate our progress on representation and inclusion, we ensure employees at all levels are responsible for engaging by practicing inclusion, learning from failure, and taking everyday actions.

Leaders have a unique accountability to influence change in their teams. We take individual progress into account when determining the impact, rewards, and promotion for all Partners and Executives.

Powerful conversations on aspects of identity such as region and language have enabled Microsoft leaders in India to uncover new opportunities to broaden awareness, mitigate bias, and shift behaviors.

New options to voluntarily self-identify in regionally and culturally relevant ways, for example as a caregiver to elders, are helping us better understand employees’ identities and needs.

We are building momentum with a focus on supporting LGBTQIA+ communities across the region by creating opportunities for employees to connect and explore issues of identity and inclusion.

As part of our wider efforts to increase opportunities for employees to self-identify outside the US, employees in the UK are leveraging new ways to identify on the basis of race and ethnicity.

The Neurodiversity Hiring Program gives candidates the opportunity to showcase their unique talents, gain an understanding of Microsoft’s culture, and meet with members of the neurodiverse community.

Microsoft Leap’s mission is to recruit, develop, and upskill talent that might not traditionally have pathways into tech careers, combining classroom learning with on-the-job training.

The HBCU Cybersecurity Industry Collaboration Pilot, led by Advancing Minorities’ Interest in Engineering (AMIE), builds capacity in cybersecurity and connects students to career opportunities.

Few companies in the world hire at the scale of Microsoft. Along with opening innovative pathways into tech, we also focus on the hiring process, requiring inclusive hiring training for all managers.

Our work includes advocating for marriage equality in the US, Taiwan, Chile, and Switzerland; supporting the UN LGBTIQ+ Standards Gap Analysis Tool; tackling transgender discrimination; and more.

We’ve continued to advocate for the protection and strengthening of the US Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, including offering pro bono legal services to DACA recipients.

We partnered with the Center for Civic Design to launch the Disability Voting Index, a new tool that helps ensure more people with disabilities across the US can participate in the electoral process.

We have supported more accessible digital city services for people with disabilities under an inclusive cities project with G3ict, the G20 Smart City Alliance, and the World Economic Forum.

Microsoft has long been a leader in inclusive benefits, one of the first Fortune 500 companies to provide same-gender domestic partner benefits, in 1993. We continue to meet employees where they need.

We extended our existing limited travel benefit to include travel expense support for medical services—including abortion and gender-affirming care—covered in US health plans where access to care is limited.

In the workplace reshuffle it becomes even more critical to create inclusive experiences and cultures. We lean into our practice of allyship to create intentionally inclusive experiences.

We leverage employee listening tools to understand how employees feel. And we look to research, including our own, to truly understand employee work style needs and weed out bias.

At Microsoft, we connect a growth mindset—our cultural cornerstone—to D&I through the foundational concept of allyship, which every employee is expected to learn about and practice.

To support the building of inclusive behaviors, we partnered with leading academics to craft a unique employee learning program, grounded in neuroscience and habit formation.

We increase awareness of allyship further by introducing the concept as early as employee onboarding and continuing to reinforce allyship and create everyday opportunities for practice and application.

We created our year-old Learning Pathways, with curated content personalized for each learner, to help employees grow their awareness of the experiences of different communities and identities.