Microsoft has reportedly laid off a team devoted to diversity, equity and inclusion after pouring millions of dollars into the initiative — becoming the latest major company to ditch the “woke” policy.
The Big Tech giant disbanded the DEI team at the beginning of the month due to “changing business needs,” according to a July 1 email obtained by Business Insider.
It is unclear how many employees were affected.
The decision was a further sign that companies are pulling back on diversity-based initiatives that were put in place following the 2020 death of George Floyd and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protest campaigns.
Last year, Google and Meta reduced the scope of their DEI programs and cut staff as part of restructuring and layoffs at both companies, according to CNBC.
On Tuesday, tractor giant John Deere announced it will scuttle nearly all its DEI polices in favor of a quality-based workplace.
That followed a decision last month by farm chain retailer Tractor Supply to axe all DEI goals and positions.
Zoom, Snap, Tesla, DoorDash, Lyft, Home Depot and Wayfair have also downsized their DEI teams.
Overall, DEI-related job postings declined by 44% by mid-2023 compared to the same period in 2022.
Microsoft had pledged to invest $150 million into its DEI push, which involved doubling the number of black and Hispanic leaders by 2025.
“Our D&I commitments remain unchanged,” a Microsoft spokesperson told Business Insider.
“Our focus on diversity and inclusion is unwavering and we are holding firm on our expectations, prioritizing accountability, and continuing to focus on this work.”
Nonetheless, Microsoft’s July 1 email was met with blowback from an unnamed DEI team leader at the company.
The worker fired off a missive to thousands of fellow employees the same day, lamenting the fact that “true systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” according to BI.
Microsoft was among scores of blue-chip companies that sought to bolster their work forces by hiring from a more diverse pool of candidate in the wake of the May 2020 police-involved death of Floyd, a black man who died while being arrested by Minneapolis police.
Floyd’s death ignited nationwide riots and demonstrations as well as demands for corporate America to diversify the ranks of its employees.
A month after Floyd’s death, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pledged to double the number of African-American managers, senior individual contributors and senior leaders in the US by 2025.
At the time, Nadella declined to specify the number of black managers employed by Microsoft.
Last fall, Microsoft released its annual “Diversity & Inclusion Report.”
According to the Redmond, Wash.-based company, it has bolstered its share of women employees by 0.5% from 2022 to 2023.
In total, Microsoft, which employs 221,000 people worldwide, said women comprise 31.2% of all employees globally — a 3.6% increase since 2019.
The Windows maker said that black employees represent 6.7% of its global workforce — up 2.2% from 2019, while Hispanic employees comprise 8% of the company’s workforce.
