Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
by mohi-kalantari on 12/8/2025, 2:57:13 PM
https://www.theverge.com/tech/838079/microsoft-diversity-and-inclusion-changes-notepad
Comments
by: RankingMember
I'm continually blown away that the modern titans of industry readily bow down to a glorified reality show egomaniac. Allying to price-fix is one thing, but surely they can ally to resist culture war nonsense from making its way into their employee handbooks?
12/8/2025, 3:09:58 PM
by: coldtea
Let's call it "token representation not based on merit" and it doesn't sound that back walking them back
12/8/2025, 3:27:03 PM
by: delichon
Due to current admin policies, failing to do this would limit Microsoft's ability to drink from the federal trough. Whatever value they put in diversity is less than they put in large contracts.
12/8/2025, 3:19:50 PM
by: coredog64
Aside from the alleged "culture war" aspect, looking at the 2024 report you can see that the category "Asian" is at 36%. Roughly 5% of the US population can tick the "Asian" box on the census. There are a lot of people on both sides of the US political aisle asking why this is the case. Making it harder to tease that data out might limit blowback from low-effort attempts to smear the company.
12/8/2025, 3:29:09 PM
by: Hasz
DEI used to make them money, and now it loses them money. It is not surprising they would jettison it.
12/8/2025, 3:23:39 PM
by: whynotminot
While there’s a lot of this era that’s deeply unfortunate, this kind of question on my yearly review would be incredibly vexing to me:<p>> What impact did your actions have in contributing to a more diverse and inclusive Microsoft?<p>What does this even mean? How do I show I did this? If I don’t interpret the meaning of this question correctly, do I fail the test and end up some HR watchlist? If I don’t succeed at whatever this is going for, will I not promote?
12/8/2025, 3:16:37 PM
by: RankingMember
<a href="https://archive.vn/DNBQa" rel="nofollow">https://archive.vn/DNBQa</a>
12/8/2025, 3:07:16 PM
by: t1234s
The only thing large corporations like M$ care about is their share price (and they should). ESG/DEI was just a fad
12/8/2025, 3:30:02 PM
by: ausbah
yeah they dropped their “what actions did you take to further diversify and inclusion” question in biannual reviews last month<p>no one really liked those sorts of questions, always had to game it or make BS up. but on a personal level definitely furthers my desire to mot want to come out at work as a trans person
12/8/2025, 3:29:47 PM
by: afavour
No matter how you might view the topic I hope we can all agree that this is vacuous nonsense:<p>> “We are not doing a traditional report this year as we’ve evolved beyond that to formats that are more dynamic and accessible — stories, videos, and insights that show inclusion in action,”<p>Oh, you wanted hard numbers? What about a TikTok video instead?<p>Just be honest about this stuff. It’s insulting to the intelligences of all involved to pretend that you just coincidentally happen to be making these shifts.
12/8/2025, 3:08:39 PM
by: Rebuff5007
Hot take: i'm not sure this is actually bad for <i>actual</i> diversity and inclusion. From my experience (not at msft), companies continue to have many internal goals related to equal pay, gender balance, etc.<p>Whats changing is how this is communicated externally, and I can see why this would have to change based on the political climate.
12/8/2025, 3:33:12 PM
by: stevenfoster
Panem et Circenses.
12/8/2025, 3:31:26 PM
by: ChrisArchitect
Game File post: <a href="https://www.gamefile.news/p/microsoft-skips-diversity-inclusion-report-2025" rel="nofollow">https://www.gamefile.news/p/microsoft-skips-diversity-inclus...</a>
12/8/2025, 3:32:42 PM
by: terminalshort
DEI is a blatant violation of title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and any company that engages in it or any form of racial discrimination by any other sickening PR sanitized name like "affirmative action" should be aggressively prosecuted.<p>> It shall be an unlawful employment practice for an employer -<p>> (1) to fail or refuse to hire or to discharge any individual, or otherwise to discriminate against any individual with respect to his compensation, terms, conditions, or privileges of employment, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin; or<p>> (2) to limit, segregate, or classify his employees or applicants for employment in any way which would deprive or tend to deprive any individual of employment opportunities or otherwise adversely affect his status as an employee, because of such individual's race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.
12/8/2025, 3:30:34 PM