As we enter our 50th year as a company, diversity and inclusion continue to be critical to our mission: Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Every person. Every organization. Every day. Everywhere.
When I think about Microsoft’s uniquely inclusive mission, the word “every” stands out: Empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. The work of diversity and inclusion starts with this one word, every. This anchors us to our massive ambition to serve all customers and consumers in transformational ways globally. We set a formidable foundation of expertise and excellence in our workforce, and embracing difference raises the bar.
This special combination is what it takes to imagine, anticipate, and innovate the solutions, services, products, and ways of working that fuel our ability to be relevant and competitive today—and in the future.
Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Chief Diversity Officer and Corporate Vice President, Talent and Learning
Our focus on diversity and inclusion has been going on for decades
Our journey continues, and the work is ongoing
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- First woman elected to Board of Directors
- First Diversity Director named
- Became one of the first Fortune 500 companies to expand anti-discrimination policy and benefits to LGBTQIA+ employees
- US healthcare benefits extended to same-sex domestic partners
- Autism benefit & Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy included in benefits coverage
- Blacks at Microsoft (BAM) Employee Resource Group (ERG) founded
- Women and Asians ERGs founded
- LGBTQIA+ (GLEAM) ERG founded
- First Minority Student Day
- Created a full-time position dedicated to accessibility, ensuring our products, services, and channels meet accessibility standards from procurement to development
- First time scoring 100 on Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index
- HOLA (Hispanic and Latinx Organization of Leaders in Action) ERG founded
- Gender-affirming benefits offered to US employees
- Signed UN Women’s Empowerment Principles
- First time measuring employee sentiment on inclusive culture
- Began offering childcare subsidies in the US
- Began offering back-up care benefits for families globally
- Military Software and Systems Academy (MSSA) founded
- Covered taxes for same-sex domestic partner benefits for over a decade, until the US legalized same-sex marriage
- Joined Billion Dollar Roundtable and invested more than $2 billion with diverse suppliers
- Leap apprenticeship program created
- Inclusive Design approach formalized
- Neurodiversity Hiring Program developed
- Disability ERG founded
- Began reporting pay equity data for the US
- Added a performance-based component around culture and organizational leadership, which includes progress on D&I representation, to the compensation of every member of the Senior Leadership Team
- Global minimum parental and family caregiver leave rolled out
- Annual performance and development goal related to Diversity & Inclusion (D&I Core Priority) introduced for all employees
- Developed the Allyship at Microsoft learning pathway, a program grounded in neuroscience and growth mindset, and designed to deepen awareness and meet people wherever they are on their respective allyship journey
- Began expanding reporting of pay equity data outside the US
- First comprehensive Global Diversity & Inclusion Report published in 2019
- Families, Military, and Indigenous ERGs founded
- Racial Equity Initiative announced
- Global gender-affirming benefits offered to all employees
- Hosted Include 2021, a free global digital event with 75,000 employees, partners, customers, and ecosystem members, to engage and learn from external experts on diversity, inclusion, identity, global perspectives, racial injustice, and more
- Self-expression and pronouns in Microsoft 365
- Began reporting median unadjusted pay analysis (pay gap) data
- Further expanded pay disclosures to reflect total pay and employees globally
- Published Microsoft’s 2023 Global Diversity & Inclusion Report, our fifth report and 10th year publishing our workforce demographic data externally
- Accelerated our companywide commitment to D&I through the all-company ERG Engage event
- Invested in ERG leadership development
- Furthered our investment in D&I skills development by expanding our capability-building portfolio
- Integrated D&I, Talent Management, and Learning and Skilling to ensure access to career opportunities and culture of inclusion that enable every employee to thrive
Achieving a mission as bold as ours starts with culture
At Microsoft, a culture of inclusion invites people to contribute ideas, find innovative solutions to the most complex problems, and do their best work. Below are highlights from our core Microsoft workforce.
Demonstrating allyship
83.5% of employees agreed or strongly agreed they have observed coworkers taking intentional action to demonstrate allyship in the workplace.
