U.S. government probes Microsoft's effort to boost diversity
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Microsoft says the U.S. Labor Department is scrutinizing its efforts to boost Black employment and leadership at the tech company.
Microsoft disclosed in a blog post Tuesday that it received a letter from the agency the other day asking about the business's June pledge to double the quantity of Black and African American managers, senior individual contributors and senior leaders by 2025.
“The letter asked us to prove that the actions we are taking to boost opportunities are not against the law race-based decisions,” said Dev Stahlkopf, Microsoft’s general counsel. “Emphatically, they are not.”
CEO Satya Nadella made the June hiring commitment in response to Black Lives Matter protests around the united states and within a broader message to employees about racial injustice and promoting a culture of inclusivity at the Redmond, Washington-based company.
It's not uncommon for tech companies to publicly tout efforts to improve staff diversity, given the industry's longstanding dearth of Black, Latino and female employees in technical and leadership positions. But this time around they are running into scrutiny by a Trump administration which has sought to intervene with universities and other institutions over their method of race and discrimination.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order last month “to combat offensive and anti-American race and sex stereotyping and scapegoating” in the federal workforce and among federal contractors. Microsoft is a major federal contractor, supplying its Office workplace software and cloud computing services to multiple government agencies.
Labor Department representatives didn't immediately respond to emails seeking comment Tuesday.
The Trump administration’s move contrasts a flurry of efforts by private companies and institutions to improve racial diversity in the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests. There's been a particular emphasis on bringing more African Americans into leadership positions.
A lot more than 40 private and publicly traded companies have joined a pledge to include at least one Black member with their board of directors by 2021. Target last month pledged to improve the representation of its Black employees by 20% over the next three years. Goldman Sachs announced an initiative to recruit more bankers and traders from historically Black colleges. Other firms which have announced similar hiring or promotion goals include Salesforce, Mastercard and Accenture.
Glassdoor, the jobs site which allows users to review their employers anonymously, added new feature to permit users to rate companies on the diversity and inclusion initiatives. The business said the feature was added partly in response to a 63% spike in reviews mention diversity over the summertime, following protests over the authorities killing of George Floyd.
Source: https://japantoday.com
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