Tech giant Microsoft has determined its DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion) department is “no longer business-critical” and fired its entire team, according to a leaked email.Microsoft is another in a string of major companies, including Meta, Google and Zoom, to axe its DEI agenda. DEI initiatives were widely adopted in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests in the United States after the death of George Floyd in 2020.A recently fired DEI program leader at Microsoft, in an internal email obtained by Business Insider, and which was reportedly sent to hundreds of staff, wrote their "role and team were eliminated” as of July 1. The DEI manager slammed Microsoft for acting on its “changing business needs.” In it, the former DEI team leader lamented the tech company had abandoned its DEI goals it had once championed. The email reportedly criticized the reality that “true systems-change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020.”Microsoft spent $150 million on DEI programs and required special training on “privilege” and “racial allyship” for all non-black employees, per the Daily Mail. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in 2020 pledged to double its number of black executives by 2025. After the email leaked on Tuesday, Microsoft spokesperson Jeff Jones told Business Insider in a statement its “D&I commitments remain unchanged” and Microsoft would “hold firm.” “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,” he said. While the statement did not specify DEI employees were let go. In 2023, however, Microsoft announced a sweeping culling of employees, with plans to fire 10,000 staffers in what has been referred to as the Silicon Valley “tech wreck.”According to IGN, a gaming publication which corroborated the leaked email, the DEI leader accused Microsoft executives of having “investigated and evidenced discrimination, harassment, and toxicity” against DEI staff. The author of the email was of the opinion Microsoft isn’t the only company to shrink back its DEI initiatives, citing "Project 2025," an initiative to make conservative policies more mainstream. “Unofficially in my opinion, not specific to Microsoft alone, but Project 2025 looms and true systems change work associated with DEI programs everywhere are no longer business critical or smart as they were in 2020,” reads the email. “Hence the purposeful and strategic three to five-year shelf life of many company's inclusion commitments post the murder of George Floyd are being reevaluated.”"And the way I see it, the timing was impeccable so businesses everywhere could reevaluate the path forward should their US federal contracts be at risk if the work continues on its face."The fired manager wrote their DEI team did the impossible during its short-lived existence. “Impossible mountains were moved," states the email, commending the “brilliant, ethical and world class strategists at the company” who helped “make the world a better place."
