Microsoft Laid off a DEI Team
Ashley Stewart, Business Insider, July 15, 2024
After Microsoft laid off an internal team focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion, a team leader blasted the company for a lack of investment in these efforts.
“True systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” a leader of the team wrote in an email sent to thousands of employees, which was viewed by Business Insider.
The email says the team was eliminated because of “changing business needs” as of July 1. It’s unclear how many employees were affected.
{snip}
Many technology companies, including Microsoft, made commitments to improve diversity efforts after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer and the historic protests that followed.
In 2020, Microsoft pledged to double the number of Black leaders within the company by 2025. The company’s progress on this pledge is also unclear.
{snip}
