Has diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) become too ‘woke’? Earlier this week, this was the claim of some commentators after technology giant Microsoft was reported to have laid off some of its DE&I team.
In a leaked email seen by Business Insider, an internal DE&I team leader reportedly wrote that the team was eliminated due to changing business needs as it was no longer deemed to be business critical. If the reports are true, Microsoft’s actions follow similar moves allegedly made by other well-known organisations, including Zoom, X (formerly known as Twitter) and Tesla. Fashion retailer Asos, meanwhile, announced in its 2023 annual report that it would be removing its DE&I bonus from executives’ incentive plans in order to avoid detracting from a focus on profitability.
Obviously, the claims regarding Microsoft appear to have come from a disgruntled employee, so may well have been exaggerated or only give some of the story.
To date, Microsoft has had a strong track record in the DE&I space, having publicly reported its DE&I data voluntarily for the 10 years to September 2023. Like many other organisations, it also made a number of DE&I commitments in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020.
Its most recent Diversity and Inclusion report, published last year, demonstrated an increase in the representation of women and most racial and ethnic minority groups at all levels over the past five years. Additional figures showed that approximately 85% of employees agreed or strongly agreed that colleagues demonstrate allyship in the workplace, making an effort to understand, empathise and act in support of others.
Without knowing whether the Microsoft employees who were reportedly laid off represented the entire DE&I team or just a proportion of this, and whether responsibilities for DE&I have been redistributed elsewhere within the business, it is difficult to judge whether the organisation is deserving of the criticisms that have been levelled at it by many of the media reports on its move. Given Microsoft’s track record of reporting DE&I data, however, it should be apparent in the not-too-distant future whether its focus in this area has changed and whether it really is scaling back its focus on DE&I or if it is more that it is refocusing how it approaches this?
Based on current trends in the DE&I space, other organisations may well follow suit in restructuring their DE&I provision.
Debbie Lovewell-TuckEditorTweet: @DebbieLovewell
