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An earlier version of the blog was posted with some numerical errors. This was due to a technical issue, which has now been resolved.

Today, I am sharing Microsoft’s 2020 Diversity and Inclusion report, which comes at a time marked by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, amplified acts of racial injustice, and the reality of global uncertainty.

This year’s report focuses on three core areas in addition to the data: the ways that diversity and inclusion is integrated into our employee pandemic response, our commitments to addressing racial injustice, and our investment in the Allyship at Microsoft learning path. The report also includes:

The data shows steady progress

Microsoft started publicly sharing its annual workforce demographics in 2014. This year’s report reflects the trends and learnings over our five most recent demographic data disclosures.

The following data reflects Microsoft only; it does not include our broader family of companies[1] (LinkedIn, GitHub, and our minimally integrated gaming studios), nor does it include new acquisitions and joint ventures.

Continuing to accelerate leadership and talent development, systems of accountability, and strengthening our culture of inclusion are in addition to the comprehensive work we already have underway.

Our pandemic response

When the COVID-19 pandemic started to rapidly shift how we live and work, it amplified differences in our lived experiences, revealing many social inequities that could previously remain hidden from work. When school closures and caregiving restrictions upended family dynamics and divisions of labor, we supported our workforce through caregiver leave programs, which gave all employees flexible time off to help manage remote learning transitions and balance care for loved ones. We also supported our employees through the transition to remote work by helping to cover costs of ergonomic office furniture and ensuring that everyone could access a variety of tools and resources to support mental well-being and mental health. Empathy for one another has been essential as we each navigate this challenging year and balance work life.

Our commitments addressing racial injustice

In June,  our CEO Satya Nadella outlined our commitments to increase diversity in representation and strengthen our culture of inclusion within our company, engage our ecosystem to drive change, and strengthen the communities in which we live and work. These efforts, focused on addressing the unique experience of Black and African American communities in the U.S., include short- and long-term, multi-year, sustained actions to accelerate our diversity and inclusion work.

We are early in our journey – only a quarter has passed since we shared our commitments, but our actions have been intentional and steadfast. While our representation goals span a five-year commitment, we are taking steps forward and wanted to share a few examples of our updates:

Our progress will be ongoing, and we will continue to provide our employees updates in our Town Hall and employee Q&As and on our intranet.We will also provide comprehensive updates on our progress in future annual diversity and inclusion reports.

Understanding our investment in allyship

At Microsoft, we believe everyone at every level plays a role in creating a diverse and inclusive work environment, and that allyship behavior is key. An ally is someone who makes the intentional decision to understand, empathize, and act in support of someone else. It is not an identity – rather it is a lifelong commitment and practice.

Grounded in neuroscience, the Allyship at Microsoft learning path helps us understand ourselves and encourages us to take responsibility for our individual learning. What started in July 2019 as a voluntary learning program has since evolved into a required training that provides our more than 160,000 global employees a shared language and understanding of the role we each play in creating a culture of inclusion. This is especially important for a global organization, and at a time when there are many interpretations in broader society of what allyship means. We are already seeing positive progress as our communities adopt the training: By September of this year, just two months after the first four introductory courses of the program were made mandatory for all core Microsoft employees, 24% – or more than 35,000 members of the workforce – had completed those modules.

I encourage you all to read the full report to explore much more detailed data, insights, employee stories, initiatives and learnings.

[1] For data on the broader Microsoft family of companies, please visit pages 9-11 of the report.