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MS investigating claims of sexual harassment - "at Xbox, every woman, except for 1, had been called a bitch" (Update: MS Responds)
- Thread starter gofreak
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Microsoft's political action committee seem like a disgusting bunch if this is the kind of shit they're donating to. Burn that shit to the ground.
Exactly, you'd have union reps on both sides. Obviously the union will help the victim not lose their job for reporting anything but I'm surprised that's even allowed, I don't think it is in CA. And the union will help if the perp is not part of the union (ie management). I think in that recent incident with the female animators they got someone kicked out of the union when nobody else was going to do anything, but even that was like a monumental effort on their part.
Yes let's become violent over words...
How old are you and what kind of job do you have?
In a corporate environment that's a good way to have your career ended and not to mention probably let the offending party off the hook.
It's sad that this happens, but even the most left wing tech company donates to both political parties, to curry favour and avoid political retribution. This is a gross American political problem. The money gets spread around the country by 2nd and 3rd parties and shit like this happens.
https://www.opensecrets.org/
Look up any tech company, and you see the same problem.
Seems strange that something like this is going on at Microsoft when it's a company that very much seems on it when it comes to diversity, equality and good working conditions at their company. I imagine the problem might stem from a company that is such a massive size that there may be departments or areas of the business where this kind of thing has slipped under the radar. Hopefully anyone who has been targeted or discriminated against will have the help they need and the dicks responsible get shown the door.
Yeah this shit is pretty common in corporate America. I constantly get emails from my company's pac and when you look at who they're giving money to its pretty common that they're giving money to dems, Republicans and a bunch of shitty ppl. But they do this to help get their shit approved.
MS had some pretty sexist stuff spin up before this gen Xbox reveal with the schoolgirl parties and rape jokes on stage. Its undoubtably in the culture over there. Too bad, cause I hadn't heard anything about it for a long time and was beginning to think there had been some real changes.
Like many others said, HR probably did not pass it up so the higher up execs weren't told. Then you have a massive company of this size, it'll never be 100% stopped just due to the sheer number of humans working there. However I do hope the higher ups make heads roll and put a squash to this quickly now that it's moved past HR. HR needs their house cleaned also.
Load of shite.
Sometimes you've got to take people a whole lot less literally dude.
Yeah, they'd been pushing that "good guy Microsoft" image HARD the past few years, but under all the PR it sounds like very little has changed in the actual working environment for women in the company in that time. It's fucked up that they've been pushing an image of the company's diversity while they knew this shit was going on behind the scenes.
Heads need to fucking roll here, seriously.
This is just incredibly disappointing and upsetting. Nobody should have to work under these types of conditions. And to think that HR did fuck all with the complaints... man. Terrible stuff.
I know we all reach a point (or hopefully do anyway) when we realize corporations aren't our friends, but this is yet a reminder that all the positive PR and forward-thinking initiatives mean very little if you don't take care of the people who actually do the work.
I know we all reach a point (or hopefully do anyway) when we realize corporations aren't our friends, but this is yet a reminder that all the positive PR and forward-thinking initiatives mean very little if you don't take care of the people who actually do the work.
Exactly. Even if they weren't "aware"....that is still poor, poor leadership. I've been saying this all along...Xbox can be great...but with a whole new generation of leadership. Spencer & Co. need to go.
Also, if you need HR to tell you of severe issues in regards to stuff like that , you pretty much fail as a leader because it means your frontline and junior level staff are so distrusting of even their immediate line managers that these issues sidestep direct leadership to HR.
This is so messed up.
I used to work in a place that I felt bad for woman actually having to achieve "high standards of beauty and dress code". And hearing them saying "it's fine" it's just depressing. Even after 17 years working in the same place (yeah... I know a person submitted for 17 years in this position).
They were all amazing persons with a ton of potential.
But this is beyond humiliating. I would address this pretty quickly if I was Phil Spencer.
I used to work in a place that I felt bad for woman actually having to achieve "high standards of beauty and dress code". And hearing them saying "it's fine" it's just depressing. Even after 17 years working in the same place (yeah... I know a person submitted for 17 years in this position).
They were all amazing persons with a ton of potential.
But this is beyond humiliating. I would address this pretty quickly if I was Phil Spencer.
Agreed. Doesn't this also speak to the culture in the workplace? Culture usually promoted or fostered by the leadership itself. Leadership had to know things like this were happening.
At least in Belgium they operate based on the Welsh' theory of 20-70-10 (you know that shareholder value guy that ruined GE). I don't think that is something that slipped under the radar but rather something that comes directly from HQ, companies in Europe usually don't operate that way.
Since when has MS become diverse though? And what are the evidences of it's reaching towards diversity?
I know it's nots 100% on the company they at least stated black and Spanish ppl don't get computer science degrees. But last time I checked MS and Google had a pretty low percentage of employees non white. What's the men/women ratio?
I know it's nots 100% on the company they at least stated black and Spanish ppl don't get computer science degrees. But last time I checked MS and Google had a pretty low percentage of employees non white. What's the men/women ratio?
Are you referencing the KI "It will all be over soon" thing? Boy, I almost forgot about that. I remember they interviewed the lady that was on stage at the time it happened and she did not think it was an issue but even still...yikes.
Dafuq. It's the Xbox toxic culture leaking onto a public stage. Creepy as fuck.
Poor woman was scared to even acknowledge it was an awful joke. Good ole boys club at MS.
Schoolgirl party was just a few years ago, well into this console generation and "Spencer Era". Also, people need to realise that Nadella and Spencer have been at Microsoft for decades. They are not some fresh outsiders who just arrived to change everything for the better.
Even if it does happen in our workplaces, we aren't necessarily witnessing it or being exposed to it ourselves. I work in a large company with multiple offices and large departments. I couldn't tell you what the culture is specifically like across the breadth of the whole organization.
Horrible to hear. The important thing from this point on, is how Microsoft adresses this issue. What steps they take to combat this. The people responsible for this behaviour need to be cut off. They shouldn't have a place in shared workspace.
Also this is a great reminder for people to speak up. I don't mean just the victims, but everyone should be supporting these voices that have come out and also support those who don't dare to speak. Everyone decent should step in and call out bad behaviour. Just because something doesn't really involve you or you feel it doesn't concern you. It's a responsibility the weed this shit out and show support. When you see it, interfere. Don't be afraid that you would be excluded from the "boys club" just because you aren't an asshole.
Also this is a great reminder for people to speak up. I don't mean just the victims, but everyone should be supporting these voices that have come out and also support those who don't dare to speak. Everyone decent should step in and call out bad behaviour. Just because something doesn't really involve you or you feel it doesn't concern you. It's a responsibility the weed this shit out and show support. When you see it, interfere. Don't be afraid that you would be excluded from the "boys club" just because you aren't an asshole.
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And you've never heard anyone make remarks about an outfit, a physique or anything. It's the surprise that confuses me in these threads.
No, I haven't. Because the coworkers I interact with every day aren't assholes.
Oh yeah I get why you are surprised, as I have seen this behaviour. Even if sometimes the creepy behaviour happens behind the women's back rather than them knowing about it, it's still creepy and it should be called out even then. Not doing so enforces it and makes it seem like acceptable. "Locker room talk" needs to be called out too.
You lucky bastard.
I hate to see stuff like this, it hits close to home. I've seen what serious harrassment at work does to someone close to me, it breaks them en most of the times it ends up with them being fired and (depending how bad) mentally damaged, it's extra bad when a group of people do it to one individual.
It's an unfortunate fact that this is not a problem exclusive to Microsoft or even the tech sector, although how the HR department and specially the higher management handled everything is embarrassing, these stories have been circulating for a while, they knew about this. I'm eager to see what measures they'll take.
It's an unfortunate fact that this is not a problem exclusive to Microsoft or even the tech sector, although how the HR department and specially the higher management handled everything is embarrassing, these stories have been circulating for a while, they knew about this. I'm eager to see what measures they'll take.
In my workplace never once I was called a bitch, had a coworker do some sexual remarks or got death thread like the expamples posted here.
My question is where the hell do you work that things like this are considered normal.
Just watched the whole thing, wheres the rape joke? I didn't notice anything. The "let it happen, it'll be over soon"? Definitely comes off weird but I dunno if that's explicitly a "rape joke".
That's classic date rape. Even after that he comments that she like it and she says she doesn't. All date rape stuff my man.
Um, what? He's throwing fireballs at her and joking that she likes it. What does that have to do with date rape?
He's teasing her/talking shit. This isn't harassment, unless you include teasing someone publically over losing at a videogame as harassment. Nintendo themselves did this kinda of stuff on stage when Reggie would play games. It's just stupid banter and teasing. This takes it a step further than Nintendo does and I get how people *could* read the rape thing into it but I don't think it's intentional.
Yeah, it's awkward and weird (and I understand the mentality you're saying this is coming from) but again I think this was rather harmless, it's just awkward bullshit E3 banter.
A true WTF? moment.
As a civil servant, you call someone bitch in the work environment you are in deep trouble.
I have worked for 4 separate multiple billion dollar revenue sized companies and I've never seen anything like this.
My work is properly trapped in the 70s and even they take this sort of stuff very seriously. If someone makes a complaint, it gets investigated and heads roll if it gets substantiated. As a result, despite some people I work with being total arseholes, things like sexual harassment and abuse etc just don't happen.
It's not just that it happens, it's the apparent fact that Microsoft heads/managers know all about it and don't do anything and that is what turns a problem into an epidemic
Uh, I don't get your point. If "it happens everywhere"...it's ok?
A nearby restaurant was shut down for rodent infestation recently, and I can easily go "where does everyone here eat? heaven? How do people not see it in other restaurants?".
You see? A hostile work environment is a hostile work environment....and it's WRONG.
Xbox needs a leadership change.
I've worked a couple of places. Some jobs there was no harrasment of anyone at all. Others it was insane how brazenly they did it.
I've realised it comes down to how much of a shit the present manager gives a shit about it. If they do, it doesn't happen. If they don't, it happens.
OP
OP
edit - nevermind, this was an old interview, retweeted by someone in light of recent developments... don't want to re-raise old news, but yeah. This post originally had references to a 2014 interview with Nadella, and comments on women asking for raises. But it's old news...
There are many women that work at my company and the management activity fosters women to be leaders with many women leading teams as supervisors, managers, executive and VPs. The SLT has a couple women as well.
I have never heard anyway say anything as derogatory as what's described. I haven't seen or heard anything that would be subtlety of blatantly disrespectful, rude or mean. I haven't seen any inappropriate physical contact either.
Morale is pretty good from what I can tell and people are free to express themselves.
Does something like MS happen at your place of work often?
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