Microsoft has released new numbers on their workforce diversity statistics, and launched a new website dedicated to inclusion and diversity (click here). In the company, overall, female employees now make up 29% of the workforce. This is a 5% increase from last year’s 24%.
However, this is slightly misguiding as female employees only make up 17.1% of the ‘tech’ workforce. Female employees also occupy 17.3% of leadership positions. Microsoft categorizes statistics based on who is involved in tech, non-tech, and leadership positions.
For the company, overall, Caucasian employees make up 66.6% of the workforce, and 56.7% of the ‘tech’ workforce. However, they make up 72.2% of leadership positions. Asians make up the biggest minority and are 28.9% of the overall workforce, 35.3% of the ‘tech’ workforce, and 20.7% of the leadership workforce. The rest of the overall workforce is comprised of 5.1% Hispanic/Latino, 3.5% African American/Black, 1.2% Multi-Racial, 0.5% American Indian/Alaskan Native and 0.3% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander employees.
Women now also make up 27% of the senior executives at Microsoft, up from 24%. Women and minorities make up 40% of Microsoft’s board, up from 33%.
This is some of the stats Microsoft reported, which you can find on their website (here). Feel free to look at the statistics yourself and discuss their significance in the comments below. One disappointment is that the terminology isn’t as clear as it could be — Microsoft hasn’t told us what constitutes a ‘tech’ or a ‘leadership’ position. For example, are ‘tech’ jobs only developers? Or some non-coding positions as well? Worse case could be that Microsoft labeled jobs we wouldn’t consider ‘tech’ to raise the already low percentages for female employees in the ‘tech’ workforce.
Looking at the summary, it’s obvious that Caucasian males still make up the majority of the workforce. However, it is also evident that Microsoft is trying to be as even-handed as possible. They even have employee networks from ‘Dads at Microsoft’ to ‘Visually Impaired Persons at Microsoft’ or ‘Hong Kong Employees at Microsoft,’ and many more.
Further, there is only so much we can expect from companies. We do want them to treat everyone equally and provide a safe working environment for everyone; but, they have to pick on talent alone to ensure that they remain competitive. In addition to enforcing equality in companies, equal opportunities in Lower and Higher education must also be enforced. Microsoft has continued to acknowledge this problem and has been expanding programs for minority and female students.
Further reading: Microsoft
