Microsoft Layoffs: Tech Giant Lays Off DEI Employees via Sending Email to Employees, Calls Team ‘No Longer Business Critical or Smart’
Microsoft laid off a DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) team by sending emails to the employees. This latest round of Microsoft layoffs is reportedly initiated in relation to the protest over George Floyd murder in 2020. Check more details here.
San Francisco, July 17: Microsoft followed a path of layoffs that affected the DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) team by sending an internal email to them. Several other companies have witnessed the layoffs this year, where they sacked the employees without intimating them. In silent layoffs, the company usually do not encourage the employees to speak about losing their jobs as they pay them.
Microsoft's latest attempt at a silent layoff was due to changing business needs. Business Insider reported that the layoffs followed commitments made by Microsoft and other tech companies after the George Floyd protests. The report highlighted that the tech giant emailed thousands of employees about the job cuts. Kaspersky Layoffs: Russian Cybersecurity Firm Kaspersky Labs To Shut Down Its Operations in US Over National Security Concerns, Lay Off Employees
The latest round of Microsoft layoffs affected thousands of people; however, the report said that the exact number of affected employees cannot be known. The report said that the DEI team's employees were eliminated to address the changing business needs as of July 1. A team leader reportedly informed the employees that true systems-change work associated with DEI programs was no longer deemed smart or critical, like in 2020.
According to the report, the layoffs move came from Microsoft after the introduction of the Racial Equity Initiative in 2020 when a Minneapolis police officer murdered George Perry Floyd Jr. This sparked a historic protest by the people demanding justice for his murder. Following these protests, tech giant Microsoft pledged that it would double the number of Black leaders within the company by 2025. Warner Bros Discovery Layoffs: US-Based Entertainment Company To Lay Off Around 1,000 Employees as Part of Cost-Cutting Efforts.
According to a report by Times of India, the laid-off leader of the DEI teams expressed strong criticism over the email sent to the company's employees. Microsoft spokesperson Jeff Jones reportedly said the company's commitment to focus on diversity and remaining firm. He added about Microsoft, "...we are holding firm on our expectations, accountability, continuing to focus on this work".
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 17, 2024 12:04 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).