Microsoft opens a third-party evaluate into its harassment and discrimination insurance policies | Engadget

Microsoft has employed a 3rd -party legislation agency to evaluate its insurance policies on sexual harassment and gender discrimination insurance policies, The Verge has reported. As a part of that, the ultimate report will summarize the outcomes of sexual harassment investigations in opposition to the corporate’s senior management and board of administrators, together with former CEO Bill Gates. 

The report will “lead to the public release of a transparency report assessing the effectiveness of the company’s workplace sexual harassment and gender discrimination policies, training, and related policies,” Microsoft mentioned in a press release. It will even “assess the steps that have been taken to hold employees, including executives, accountable for sexual harassment or gender discrimination,” and embrace the variety of sexual harassment instances investigated and their decision. 

[The report] will result in the general public launch of a transparency report assessing the effectiveness of the corporate’s office sexual harassment and gender discrimination insurance policies, coaching, and associated insurance policies. This will embrace a evaluate of issues raised by staff in 2019 within the “In Need of Assistance” e mail thread, steps the corporate has taken to answer these issues, and extra steps that might additional strengthen these safeguards. The evaluate will even embrace an evaluation of insurance policies, practices, and commitments to create a secure, inclusive work atmosphere.

Microsoft had been planning to reveal the way it implements sexual harassment and gender discrimination insurance policies, with a key request being the disclosure of executive-level investigations. However, late final yr, Microsoft shareholders compelled the corporate to put in writing up an annual report detailing the way it handles sexual harassment instances throughout the firm. 

The evaluate shall be performed by the legislation agency Arent Fox and can have a look at allegations of discrimination and harassment arising from an inside Microsoft email chain again in 2019. In over 90 pages of emails, feminine staff alleged that they have been harassed and denied promotions and pay raises, amongst different points. They additional complained that managers and the corporate’s HR division took no motion in lots of instances. Microsoft was additionally accused of 238 instances of gender discrimination or sexual harassment in 2018. 

While the board will assess the earlier investigation in opposition to Gates, it will not reinvestigate the affair that occurred in 2000. Gates resigned from Microsoft’s board in early March of 2020, reportedly earlier than the investigation was full.

“We’re committed not just to reviewing the report but learning from the assessment so we can continue to improve the experiences of our employees,” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in a statement. “I embrace this comprehensive review as an opportunity to continue to get better.”