微软正悄然撤回其多元化举措。

内容来源:https://www.theverge.com/tech/838079/microsoft-diversity-and-inclusion-changes-notepad
内容总结:
微软调整多元化战略,取消年度报告与绩效核心指标
长期以多元化与包容性(DEI)作为企业核心议题的微软,近期对其相关政策进行了低调但显著的调整。据内部消息与公开报道,微软已决定停止发布年度多元化与包容性报告,并同时将“多元化与包容性”从员工绩效评估的“核心优先事项”中移除。
微软官方对此解释称,此举是为了“超越传统报告形式”,转向通过故事、视频等“更动态、更易获取”的方式来展现包容性实践。公司首席传播官弗兰克·肖表示,公司的使命与文化承诺“保持不变”。
然而,这一系列调整发生在微妙的时间点。数月前,美国前总统特朗普曾签署行政命令,意图废除职场多元化、公平与包容倡议。微软的转变被部分员工与观察人士视为对美国当前政治气候的回应。有内部人士指出,公司此前将DEI纳入绩效考核的做法被部分员工认为“缺乏诚意、流于形式”,如今的撤回反而印证了其“承诺的浅薄”。
与此同时,微软在人工智能领域动作频频。公司不仅在今年早些时候的Build大会上高调邀请埃隆·马斯克出席,并加速推进其Grok AI模型接入Azure云服务,还被曝出正在内部测试一款名为“Cosio”的AI个人助理项目。该项目由领英团队开发,被描述为“下一代数字员工”,旨在深度集成至企业环境并自动化工作任务。不过,微软发言人表示,Cosio目前仅是一次“有益的实验”,其经验将用于完善面向客户的功能。
在其他业务动态方面,数据显示约有5亿台PC尚未升级至Windows 11;公司近期发布的Windows 11更新在优化深色模式的同时,意外引入了文件管理器闪白的故障;微软CEO萨提亚·纳德拉则公开谈及AI数据中心能耗激增可能引发的社会担忧,强调科技行业需“赢得消耗能源的社会许可”。
尽管微软仍通过内部通讯和员工故事分享来展现其包容性文化,但取消系统性报告与考核硬性要求,无疑标志着其在多元化战略上的重心与可见度已发生转变。如何平衡商业决策、技术发展与社会价值观,将成为微软未来面临的持续考验。
中文翻译:
微软公布员工性别、种族及族裔构成数据已逾十年。自2019年起,公司每年发布完整的多元化与包容性报告,同时将多元化表现纳入员工绩效考核要求。
微软正悄然收缩多元化举措
在特朗普时代的美国,微软正谨慎调整步伐。
就在美国总统特朗普签署行政令试图取缔职场多元化、公平与包容性(DEI)倡议数月后,微软现已取消多元化报告,并不再将多元化与包容性作为全公司绩效考核的核心重点。
据《游戏档案》上周报道,微软今年将停止发布多元化与包容性报告。微软首席传播官弗兰克·肖在致Notepad的声明中表示:"今年我们不再发布传统报告,因为我们已经转向更动态、更易获取的呈现形式——通过故事、视频和洞察来展示包容性的实践。我们的使命以及对公司文化与价值观的承诺始终不变:赋能全球每个人、每个组织成就不凡。"
知情人士透露,微软上月还悄然对内部称为Connect的员工绩效考核体系进行了重大调整。公司已从绩效考核中移除全公司层面的安全与多元化"核心重点",这意味着员工无需再具体说明为提升安全与多元化所做的贡献及未来计划。
此前微软员工必须回答"你的行动如何为打造更多元包容的微软作出贡献?"以及"你的行动如何为打造更安全的微软作出贡献?"这两个问题现已被删除,取而代之的是简化的表格,要求员工反思工作成果、实现过程、近期遇到的挫折以及未来目标。
绩效考核变更通过微软员工新闻群的Viva Engage帖子发布,而非群发邮件。微软内部将其描述为简化措施,并宣布"核心重点现简称为目标,其中至少需有一个安全相关目标"。
在人力资源文件中,公司甚至不再使用"多元化"一词,仅保留"包容性"。微软在人力资源文件中表示:"安全、包容和高效的人员管理仍是我们在微软产生影响力的关键。包容性已融入你的工作方式、互动模式和领导行为,体现了我们的成长型思维文化。"
一位支持微软DEI倡议并要求匿名的员工表示,五年前将相关要求纳入绩效考核在当时看来"完全缺乏诚意且流于形式"。他指出:"公司(以及美国大多数企业)现在直接取消该要求,恰恰证明这从来都是肤浅的承诺。"该员工期待DEI政策执行中的"深度与诚意",并认为微软从未做到这一点。
其他受访员工对微软的倒退并不意外。有人指出今年早些时候埃隆·马斯克现身微软Build大会,正是微软向特朗普政府示好的信号。
五月马斯克出席Build大会时,正值其领导DOGE机构解散政府及政府资助组织之际,这在公司内部引发巨大紧张情绪。当时有消息源透露,微软GLEAM组织(全球LGBTQIA+员工及盟友团体)对CEO萨提亚·纳德拉邀请马斯克参会感到"愤怒"。
马斯克的亮相是纳德拉推动其Grok AI模型接入Azure云平台以配合Build大会的举措之一。虽然Grok 3成为Build大会的发布内容,但数月后因输出内容存在严重隐患,微软不得不谨慎引入Grok 4。有员工在今年夏季透露,Grok 4的安全问题"非常棘手"。
微软继续推进Grok 4与潜在企业客户的私下测试,同时迅速向GitHub Copilot推出Grok Code Fast 1。当时有微软员工指出:"这是在仓促的安全审查、被强迫且不情愿的工程团队配合下推出的,完全违背了我们宣称的公司价值观。"
如今,评判这些公司价值观将变得更加困难。
微软仍在发布《内部包容性》通讯和"我们的准则"故事集,重点展示多元背景员工的经历,但这与将多元化包容性作为员工核心重点、年度报告焦点或股东披露内容已不可同日而语。
LinkedIn正为微软高管测试AI个人助理
微软员工发现部分公司高管正在使用一款未公开的AI个人助理。知情人士透露,微软首席技术官凯文·斯科特拥有名为"凯文的科西奥"的个人AI助理,在公司全球通讯录中直接向其汇报,与其他人类直接下属并列。
科西奥是微软LinkedIn团队的项目,被设计为自主运行的AI数字助理。你或许会认为这不过是Copilot,但科西奥在内部被描述为深度集成于微软企业环境的"下一代数字工作者"。据悉它能自动化处理任务、构建工作流,并与人类员工及其他AI代理协作。
微软已在内部对部分高管测试科西奥,包括商业与行业Copilot团队负责人查尔斯·拉曼纳。该项目属于微软新的Agent 365计划框架,该框架控制着AI代理如何像人类员工一样访问数据和工作。微软原计划十月底向全员推广,但期限已过,目前仅限高管测试。
科西奥似乎不会更广泛推广了。微软发言人辛西娅·雷诺在致Notepad的声明中表示:"作为零号客户,我们持续试验新兴技术——有些会纳入产品路线图,有些则不会。科西奥是一次有益的尝试,为我们向客户提供的功能提供了参考。"
不过,微软测试这种看似真实员工的数字工作者机器人的可行性,仍然值得玩味。
简报
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戴尔称约5亿台PC暂未升级Win11。虽然Windows 11普及速度慢于Windows 10已是共识,但戴尔上周给出了暂缓升级的具体数字:5亿台。这不仅包括可升级而未升级的设备,戴尔指出因Win11严格的硬件要求,还有约同等数量的设备无法升级。我预计会有数百万消费者坚守Win10,但没想到总量(含企业设备)会高达5亿。
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Win11更新优化暗黑模式却引发新故障。微软本周发布的Win11更新本应提升暗黑模式一致性,却带来了尴尬的漏洞:安装后每次打开文件资源管理器都会闪现白屏。这种离谱的漏洞令人惊讶微软竟未在测试中发现。微软表示正在修复。
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微软丑毛衣回归,含Clippy/Xbox/Zune棕款。微软节日丑毛衣系列再度登场。今年推出印有大量复古图标的"文物"毛衣、Zune棕色毛衣及Xbox主题款。"文物"毛衣以Clippy回形针为中心,环绕MSN、扫雷、IE浏览器、MS-DOS及众多Windows标志。由于微软总忍不住到处添加Copilot标志,这款复古毛衣袖口甚至也有Copilot图标。所有毛衣在微软网店限量发售。
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纳德拉预警AI数据中心能耗问题。微软CEO本周承认AI数据中心的能耗可能引发公众对科技行业的抵触。在接受阿克塞尔·施普林格CEO马蒂亚斯·德普夫纳采访时,纳德拉表示科技行业"需要赢得消耗能源的社会许可,因为我们在为世界创造价值"。他同时指出,如果AI能"带来广泛的经济增长",人们会接受电网的额外压力。目前AI究竟是泡沫还是能真正提升生产力,仍有待观察。
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微软否认降低AI产品销售指标。针对《信息》称因"多数销售人员"未达增长目标,微软多个部门已下调AI产品销售指标的说法,微软予以驳斥。匿名发言人向CNBC表示公司未降低销售配额或目标:"正如我们在报道发布前所说明的,AI产品总销售配额并未降低。"
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Xbox云游戏即将改版。微软正准备革新Xbox云游戏界面,采用更接近Xbox PC应用的设计。Better xCloud开发者发现了相关变化,宣传视频已透露部分新界面。鉴于测试版已出现"尝试新体验"按钮,预计Xbox Insider用户很快就能体验。
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Linux创始人为微软蓝屏辩护。Linux内核创始人莱纳斯·托瓦兹本周意外为Windows发声。他在Linus Tech Tips节目中为蓝屏死机辩护,称多数故障源于"硬件不可靠"而非Windows系统漏洞。微软现已将蓝屏改为黑屏,可能是为了简化错误界面并摆脱相关网络迷因。
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微软拟将Xbox生产转移至越南。据报道微软计划将部分Xbox生产转移至越南工厂。路透社称富士康子公司正寻求在越工厂生产最多480万台Xbox游戏设备的许可。上月有报道称微软正将Surface生产线移出中国,并寻求在境外生产更多Xbox主机。转移至越南将帮助微软规避影响美国Xbox售价的部分高额特朗普关税。
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微软或弃用Contoso与Fabrikam。我少年时期参加微软认证工程师考试时,所有案例中都能看到虚构的Contoso和Fabrikam公司。微软使用这两家公司进行演示测试已数十年,但随着AI转型推进,公司引入了新虚构企业Zava。《注册商》在Ignite大会期间发现微软使用该公司,近期技术文档中也曾出现。微软称Zava是"前沿"企业——即快速应用AI的公司的代称。但愿Contoso和Fabrikam能挺过微软的AI转型。
我始终期待读者来信,欢迎在此留言,或通过notepad@theverge.com联系讨论其他话题。若知悉微软任何秘密项目,可通过该邮箱联系,或在Signal加密通讯应用(用户名tomwarren.01)私密交流。Telegram用户也可通过tomwarren账号联系。
感谢订阅Notepad。
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英文来源:
Microsoft has been publishing data about the gender, race, and ethnic breakdown of its employees for more than a decade. Since 2019 it’s been publishing a full diversity and inclusion report annually, and at the same time made reporting on diversity a requirement for employee performance reviews.
Microsoft is quietly walking back its diversity efforts
Microsoft is toeing the line in Trump’s America.
Microsoft is toeing the line in Trump’s America.
Now it’s scrapping its diversity report and dropping diversity and inclusion as a companywide core priority for performance reviews, just months after President Donald Trump issued an executive order to try and eradicate workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Game File reported last week that Microsoft will cease publication of its diversity and inclusion reports this year. “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,” said Frank Shaw, Microsoft’s chief communications officer, in a statement to Notepad. “Our mission and commitment to our culture and values remain unchanged: empowering every person and organization to achieve more.”
Sources tell me that Microsoft also quietly made some big changes to its employee performance reviews last month, known internally as Connect. Microsoft has removed its companywide security and diversity “core priorities” from its performance reviews, meaning employees no longer have to submit exactly what they did to improve security and diversity and what they plan to do in the future.
Microsoft employees always had to answer “What impact did your actions have in contributing to a more diverse and inclusive Microsoft?” and “What impact did your actions have in contributing to a more secure Microsoft?” Both of these questions have been removed, replaced with a simplified form that asks employees to reflect on the results they delivered and how they achieved them, and any recent setbacks and goals for the future.
The performance review changes were announced through a Viva Engage post on Microsoft’s employee news group, instead of through a mass email. Microsoft described its changes internally as a simplification, and announced that “core priorities are now simply called goals, with at least one goal focused on security.”
In HR documentation, the company doesn’t even use the word “diversity” anymore, opting for just “inclusion” instead. “Security, inclusion, and strong people management remain essential to how we deliver impact at Microsoft,” says Microsoft in its HR documentation. “Inclusion is embedded in how you work, interact, and lead, reflecting our growth mindset culture.”
One employee, who supports Microsoft’s DEI initiatives and wishes to remain anonymous, told me that adding the requirement to its performance reviews five years ago seemed “completely insincere and performative” at the time. “The fact that the company (and most of corporate America) just dropped it proves to me that it was always a shallow commitment.” The employee wants “depth and sincerity” in executing DEI policies, which they say Microsoft never achieved.
Other employees I’ve spoken to about the changes aren’t surprised by Microsoft’s walk back. Some point to Elon Musk’s appearance onstage at Microsoft’s Build conference earlier this year as a sign that Microsoft was cozying up to the Trump administration.
Musk’s appearance at Build in May caused plenty of tension internally, at a time when he was heading up DOGE to dismantle government agencies and government-funded organizations. One source told me at the time that the company’s GLEAM group (Global LGBTQIA+ Employees and Allies at Microsoft) were “incensed” by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella welcoming Musk to Build.
Musk’s appearance was part of a broader push by Nadella to get Musk’s Grok AI model onboarded to Azure in time for Build. Grok 3 was part of the Build announcements, but months later Microsoft had to cautiously onboard Grok 4 after major concerns about its output. One employee told me over the summer that the safety issues around Grok 4 were “very ugly.”
Microsoft pushed ahead with private testing of Grok 4 with potential enterprise customers, but it also quickly rolled out Grok Code Fast 1 to GitHub Copilot. One Microsoft employee said at the time that “this was pushed out with a rushed security review, a coerced and unwilling engineering team, and in full opposition to our supposed company values.”
It’s now going to be a lot more difficult to judge those company values.
Microsoft is still publishing its Inside Inclusion newsletter and “Code of Us” stories that highlight experiences from Microsoft employees with diverse backgrounds, but they’re not the same as having diversity and inclusion as a core priority for employees, the focus of an annual report, or part of disclosures to shareholders.
LinkedIn has been testing an AI personal assistant for Microsoft execs
Microsoft employees have spotted some company executives using a new, unannounced AI personal assistant. Sources tell me that Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott has “Kevin’s Cosio,” a personal AI assistant that reports directly to him in the company’s global directory, alongside other human direct reports.
Cosio is a project from Microsoft’s LinkedIn team that’s designed to be an autonomous, AI-powered digital assistant. You’d think that would simply be Copilot, but Cosio is described internally as a “next-generation digital worker” that is deeply integrated into Microsoft’s enterprise environment. I’m told it’s capable of automating tasks, building workflows, and collaborating with human employees and other AI agents.
Microsoft has been testing Cosio with some executives internally, including Charles Lamanna, head of Microsoft’s business and industry Copilot (BIC) team. Cosio was part of Microsoft’s new Agent 365 initiative, a framework that controls how AI agents access data and work like human employees. Microsoft was planning to roll it out to all employees by the end of October, but that date passed and only execs have been able to test Cosio.
It sounds like Cosio won’t be rolling out more widely anymore. “As Customer Zero, we’re constantly experimenting with emerging technologies — some make it into our roadmap, others don’t,” says Microsoft spokesperson Cynthia Reynaud, in a statement to Notepad. “Cosio was a helpful experiment that is now informing the features we deliver to customers.”
Still, it’s interesting that Microsoft was testing the viability of having digital worker bots that look like real employees.
The pad
- Around 500 million PCs are holding off upgrading to Windows 11, says Dell. We already knew that Windows 11 adoption was slower than Windows 10, but last week Dell put a number on the people holding off upgrading: 500 million. Not only are that many machines capable of being upgraded to Windows 11 but haven’t been, but Dell says around the same amount can’t upgrade due to Windows 11’s strict hardware requirements. I expected millions of consumers to stick with Windows 10, but I didn’t think the overall number (including corporate machines) would be as high as 500 million.
- Microsoft’s latest Windows 11 update improves and breaks dark mode. Microsoft shipped a Windows 11 update this week that was supposed to improve dark mode consistency, but it also added an embarrassing bug. After installing the update, every time you open File Explorer it now flashes white. You couldn’t make this up, and I’m surprised that Microsoft didn’t spot this obvious bug during testing. Microsoft says it’s working on a fix.
- Microsoft’s ugly sweaters return with Clippy, Xbox, and Zune brown options. Microsoft is bringing back its ugly sweaters for the holiday season. This year the company has an “Artifact” sweater with lots of retro iconography, a Zune brown sweater, and even an Xbox option. The Artifact sweater puts Clippy at the center, surrounded by MSN, Minesweeper, Internet Explorer, MS-DOS, and plenty of Windows logos. Because Microsoft can’t resist putting a Copilot logo everywhere, this retro sweater even has a Copilot icon on the sleeve. All the sweaters are available in limited quantities at Microsoft’s online store.
- Satya Nadella warns of AI’s impact on data center power consumption. Microsoft’s CEO admitted this week that the energy use of AI data centers could turn people against the tech industry. In an interview with Mathias Döpfner, the CEO of Axel Springer, Nadella says that the tech industry “needs to earn the social permission to consume energy, because we’re doing good in the world.” He also said that people will accept the extra pressure on the electric grid if it “results in economic growth that is broad-spread in the economy.” So far, we’re still waiting to see if AI is a bubble that will burst or add real value to productivity.
- Microsoft says it’s not lowering sales quotas for AI products. Microsoft has come out swinging against a report from The Information that claimed multiple Microsoft divisions have lowered the sales targets of salespeople for certain AI products after “many of them” missed sales-growth goals. An unnamed Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC that the company has not lowered sales quotas or targets for its salespeople. “Aggregate sales quotas for AI products have not been lowered, as we informed them prior to publication,” said the unnamed Microsoft spokesperson.
- Xbox Cloud Gaming is getting a new design soon. Microsoft is getting ready to revamp the Xbox Cloud Gaming interface with a design that more closely resembles the Xbox PC app. The developer behind Better xCloud spotted the changes, with a promotional video offering a brief look at what’s coming. Given there’s a “try new experience” button in test versions of xCloud, I’d expect we’ll see this appear for Xbox Insiders very soon.
- Linux founder defends Microsoft’s Blue Screen of Death. The creator and lead developer of the Linux kernel, Linus Torvalds, has come out as an unlikely ally to Windows this week. Torvalds defended the Blue Screen of Death errors in Windows in an appearance on Linus Tech Tips, saying that most were related to “hardware being not reliable” instead of software bugs in Windows. Microsoft has now changed the BSOD to black, in an effort to simplify the error screen and to probably shift away from the memes and jokes.
- Microsoft looks to move Xbox production to Vietnam. Microsoft is reportedly planning to move some of its Xbox manufacturing to factories in Vietnam. Reuters reports that a Foxconn subsidiary is seeking a permit to make up to 4.8 million Xbox gaming devices in Vietnamese factories. This follows a report last month that suggested Microsoft was moving its Surface manufacturing out of China and looking to produce more Xbox consoles outside of the country. Moving manufacturing to Vietnam will help Microsoft avoid some of the larger Trump tariffs that have impacted Xbox console prices in the US.
- Microsoft might be ditching Contoso and Fabrikam. I remember doing Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer certifications as a teenager and seeing the fake Contoso and Fabrikam companies in every scenario. Microsoft has used these two companies for demos and testing for decades now, but as the company pushes ahead with its AI transformation it’s also introducing a new fake company: Zava. The Register spotted Microsoft using this company during its Ignite conference, and it has also shown up in some technical documents recently. Microsoft says Zava is a “frontier” company, the moniker it uses for companies that are rapidly adopting AI. Hopefully Contoso and Fabrikam can survive Microsoft’s AI transition, though.
I’m always keen to hear from readers, so please drop a comment here, or you can reach me at notepad@theverge.com if you want to discuss anything else. If you’ve heard about any of Microsoft’s secret projects, you can reach me via email at notepad@theverge.com or speak to me confidentially on the Signal messaging app, where I’m tomwarren.01. I’m also tomwarren on Telegram, if you’d prefer to chat there.
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