HR Planning Strategy at Microsoft Inc

Microsoft’s HR Strategy – An Analysis HR Planning Report   Jyoti Priyadarshini   Jyoti  Priyadarshini  805-803-145

Preview  ___________________________________________________________________________  ___________________________________________________________________________ 1 Elements of Effective of  Effective HR Strategy _____________________________________________________________ Strategy _____________________________________________________________2 2

Microsoft: Knowledge Fuel of  Fuel  of the the Technology World_______________________________________ Technology World_______________________________________ 2 HR Strategy at  Strategy at Microsoft  Microsoft  _____________________________________________________________  _____________________________________________________________ 3 Recruitment and Selection: Attracting the Best and the Brightest ___________________________________ Brightest ___________________________________5 5 Taking advantage of Market of  Market Conditions ________________________________________________________ Conditions ________________________________________________________6 6 Employee Motivation _______________________________________________________________________ Motivation _______________________________________________________________________6 6 Employee Satisfaction and Loyalty ____________________________________________________________ Loyalty  ____________________________________________________________7 7 Employee Rewards: The Options‐driven Engine  _________________________________________________  _________________________________________________8 8 Growth & Acquisitions ______________________________________________________________________ Acquisitions ______________________________________________________________________9 9 SWOT Analysis  ____________________________________________________________________________  ____________________________________________________________________________9 9

Reshaping Microsoft’s HR Agenda HR  Agenda  _____________________________________________________ 9 Conclusion ________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion ________________________________________________________________________ 10 

Preview Human Resources Department at any organization is a crucial and indispensable part of  the operational strategy1. It can directly affect the results of  the organization, and make a very important difference between the success and failure of  any organizational strategy or goal, both in the long and well as short term. An efficient HR department should be able to access, forecast, predict, design, and implement its strategies in direct sync with the business goals and strategies of  the organization for a mutual and coherent environment, or completely fail at one or more steps to create imbalance and instability within the organization. With the

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EE Lawler III ‐ Asia Pacific Journal of Human of  Human Resources, 2005; Creating high performance organizations’; 12 – 12 – 14

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present economic cycle of  recession2 at probably its worst for close to 15 years, it is all the more important for the HR department to act as a strategic partner of  the business, so as to ensure that the long term and short terms visions and goals of  the organization from the financial and human capital perspectives are perfectly aligned and harmonious. At the same time, an efficient HR department can also help in accurate environment scanning and forecasting, and use its knowledge and resources for near‐exhausting set of  scenarios for the organization to plan for.

Elements of  of Effective Effective HR Strategy Organizational Strategy • Vision, Vision, Mission, Competitive Advantage • External External Assessment • Internal Internal Assessment • Objectives, Objectives, Initiatives and Goals

HR Strategy

HR Functions

• Practices Practices to Attract, Motivate and Retain employees to achieve goals • Strategic Strategic Integration, Employee Committment, Workforce Flexibility, and Quality of Goods of Goods and Services

• Practices Practices to ensure compliance and efiiciency goals • Related Related and aligned efforts oganized to produce intended results

Results

Before3 selecting a strategy or transitioning into a new one, it is important to study the organisation's business goals and its competitiveness in the industry.

Microsoft: Knowledge Fuel of  of the the Technology World Microsoft is considered by many to be an ideal place to work. The company has won several awards for innovation, for their commitment to diversity, and for their flexible work arrangements. It has always been a leader in the market with regard to its compensation. With a total strength of about of  about 80,000 4employees5 across the globe, and a total revenue exceeding $15 billion, it is one of  the biggest and best‐known6 technology companies in the world. Employees have access to the most current resources, from an intranet with source code libraries to periodical libraries to state‐of ‐the‐art research labs. Their work is personally challenging and on the cutting edge of  technology. The organization believes in providing the employees whatever tools and technologies they need to achieve the best results possible; and the employees are expected to create software and entertainment products that could sell millions of  copies worldwide. The office campuses at most locations are considered the

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Personneltoday.com; ‘Human Resources input is key to managing Recession Risk’; 29 January 2008 It is very important to keep in mind that being strategic in HR means having a direct impact on business problems and results. So, the strategy which is likely to have the most significant impact on workforce productivity and profits should be selected. 4 Benjamin J Romano; The Seattle Times; ‘Microsoft head count way up in last 11 months, nearing 90,000’; June 20, 2008 5 Microsoft’s plan to lay off 8,000 off 8,000 workers is a phased lay off plan, off plan, with about 1,500 employees being let go every quarter. (Source: Microsoft Press Release; Dated Jan 22, 2009) 6 Microsoft also employees some of the of  the most famous technical minds on earth, and owns more than 15,000 Intellectual Property Rights and Patents for its products across the globe 3

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benchmark of  technology hubs, with fir trees, forested trails, snow‐capped mountain vistas, basketball courts, and even shuttle buses for employees to make use of. Employees at Microsoft are recognized7 as the intellectual fuel and are provided with various benefit plans and resources, which are designed to retain them. Lisa Brummel, who  joined as the Chief  of  Human Resources at Microsoft, in 2005, started reshaping the company's HR strategies to make them more innovative and customized to individual employee needs. The focus was to project Microsoft, from an HR perspective, as an employee‐driven8 organization. As an organization, Microsoft offers a lot of flexibility of  flexibility to employees – employees – the flexible work arrangements and flexible benefit plans offered at Microsoft are often considered Best Practices9 by many employers10.

HR Strategy at  at Microsoft  Microsoft  Microsoft Corporation has adopted11 the “Performance Culture Model`` as the best12 approach to drive its success. All the critical people metrics are categorized and measured as per the Growth Pyramid shown in Figure 1. The amount of  investment made in external and internal surveys is very substantial and projects Microsoft as a leader 13 in this regard across the industry. Some of the of  the categories across which the surveys are done, analyzed, and the results published are mentioned below14. 1. Organisation: Organisation size, open positions,

line HR ratios Figure 1: Microsoft ‐ HR Growth Model

2. Organisation Health: Workgroup Health Index,

Microsoft Pulse Index, Microsoft Culture Index

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Michael A. Cusumano; Richard W. Selby (1995); ‘Microsoft Secrets: How the World's Most Powerful Software Company Creates Technology, Shapes Markets and Manages People’; Free Press ISBN 0‐684‐85531‐3 8 Microsoft wanted to project its success on basis of its of its employees’ effectiveness as opposed to better manufacturing techniques or better technology. (Source: Binit Jha, HR Operations, Microsoft Vancouver, Response dated Feb 02, 2009) 9 HR Department at Microsoft conducts quarterly 'best company' days, when more than 100 companies visit Microsoft to view its HR 'best practices'. 10 Source: Best Practices, 2008; Best Places to Work Institute Inc. 11 There are a variety of HR of HR strategic models which are used across the industry. However, the most commonly used models are Personnel, Generalist, Business Partner, Call Centre, Outsourced, Centres of Excellence, of Excellence, Self ‐Service, Fact‐based decision‐making, e‐HR, Performance Culture, and, Strategy Models. 12 B Chakravarthy; 1997; Sloan Management Review; ‘A New Strategy Framework for Coping with Turbulence’ 13

Some of the of the internal employee surveys that Microsoft has done in the last quarter, and their results, are available at http://www.vault.com . The surveys are done across different departments, and the survey results are analyzed for various department wise, job wise, job‐class wise, location‐wise and performance‐wise parameters. 14 Source: Binit Jha, HR Operations, Microsoft Vancouver, Response dated Feb 04, 2009

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3. Staffing: Hiring stats – stats  – types of hires, of  hires, channel wise hiring stats, positions closed internally, hiring spends,

lead time, % of hiring of  hiring plan, net adds, offer acceptance rates, reasons for offer decline 4.

Talent Management: Good attrition, bad attrition, YOY and Qtr‐on‐Qtr tracking, reasons for bad

attrition, % retention of  high positions, % of  promotions, succession panning indicator, succession planning usage 5. Diversity: % of women of  women (target vs. actual), % of women of  women hired, % of women of  women talent losses, reasons for bad

attrition, % of  women in leadership succession slate, % of  Managers and employees completing MS Diversity training programs, % of other of  other diversity hiring 6. Manager Capability: Span of Control, of  Control, Organisation Depth, % of Managers of  Managers 7. Learning & Development: Field Readiness Index, number of  employees trained on employee

development programmes, number of  managers trained through management excellence framework (that provides for management development through career events, continuous learning and building connections) 8. Leadership Development: % of leadership of  leadership hires, % of leadership of  leadership attrition, succession planning index (%

of successors of  successors in stages of readiness of  readiness for a Leadership role) 9. Rewards: % of budget of  budget used on rewards

Besides this, they periodically run market surveys to ensure their competitive positioning on compensation. While tracking the above metrics has shown more robust action planning to improve scores on each of  them, there are two that that have made their People Review process much more meaningful ensuring both organisational readiness and talent management. These are the SPI and the SPU: The Succession Planning Indicator (SPI) that is designed to help measure how well the organisation is positioned with weightings assigned to Ready Now and One Move Away successors for leadership positions. The Succession Plan Usage (SPU) is an index designed to assess both the quality of the of  the previous years’ succession plans and whether an organisation is effectively leveraging its succession plans when filling open leadership positions. It indicates the percent of leadership of  leadership team positions that were filled during the past year by someone who was on last year’s succession slate. In present times of  recession15 and organizational restructuring16, what businesses seek of  HR is to: a) understand the talent needs of  the business b) help develop strategic plans regarding employees c) identify talent issues before they impact the business and d) very importantly, help identify new17 business strategies. At Microsoft, the HR department is made accountable18 for maximizing the value of their of  their people asset to drive19 business success. Core HR functions, processes and practices are divided among vertical tower structures for

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Perth Leadership Institute; ‘A Recession’s Role in Leadership Development’; Feb 2008; 4  – 9 CWL Hill, GR Jones ; 2006; ‘Strategic Management: An Integrated Approach’; 27 – 27 – 32 17 It is important to envisage and reliably predict any changes that might occur in short and long run which might affect the business strategy and goals of the of the organization. HR department is expected to foresee such changes, and accurately prophesize any changes in the present or planned strategy that the business is looking to operate under. This is the premised of HR of  HR being a strategic partner of the of the business when it comes to strategy planning, designing, and implementation. 16

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easier and more transparent flow of information. of  information. The relatively independent functions also enable the business needs to be more closely aligned and measured20 from a function unit perspective. 1. Talent Acquisition & Development 2. Management Development 3. Leadership Development 4. Management of the of  the evolution of the of  the Microsoft Culture At Microsoft, the organizational culture is often termed as facilitative by the management – management  – there are significant investments made in the development of employees, of  employees, and most current support is provided for optimum career growth. The aim21 is to receive the best talent which is passionate, capable, and growth‐oriented.

Recruitment and Recruitment  and Selection: Selection: Attracting  Attracting the Best  Best and and the Brightest  Beginning from its initial days, Microsoft has believed in recruiting extremely intelligent staff, favouring intelligence over experience. Co‐founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared a preference22 for hiring extremely intelligent, not23 necessarily experienced, new college graduates dated from Microsoft’s start‐up days. Microsoft’s recruitment strategies reflect their philosophy – philosophy  – Microsoft is an aggressive recruiter and is often the first24 company to offer jobs offer  jobs to elite graduates at campuses and career fairs across the world. At the beginning, the recruitment strategies at Microsoft included sourcing people from the elite educational facilities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Carnegie‐Melon and Stanford. Microsoft recruiters would visit these universities “in search of  the most brilliant, driven students”. Experience was not required and it was in fact, preferred that new employees had no experience. The selected recruits would undergo a selection process which was focussed more on problem solving and thought‐process & composure‐testing exercises rather than the actual technical interviews. This interviewing process was seen as one which would push the interviewees to the limit of  their creative and analytic abilities rather than their familiarity with a computer programming 18

The depth of accountability of accountability that Microsoft expects from the HR department is clear from the department‐wise listings of  the last month’s layoffs from Microsoft. Out of 8,000 of  8,000 employees whose layoff was layoff was announced, nearly 1,400 were from HR department, including Shally Steckerl, then Recruiting Director at Microsoft. In Microsoft’s Press Release dated Jan 22, 2009, HR was specifically mentioned in the announcement about layoffs. (Source: John Zappe, ‘HR Getting Cut in Microsoft Layoff’; Jan 22, 2009) 19 D Ulrich, W Brockbank, AK Yeung, DG Lake; 2006; ‘Human resource competencies: An empirical assessment’; 274 – 274 – 279 20

Investment in HR needs to be driven strongly by business needs. Measurement of the of the impact of HR of HR practices is essential to keep re‐evaluating the areas of investment of investment and aligning them with business needs. 21 Considering the sheer diversity of areas of areas that Microsoft works in, it is very important for HR to fetch the best talent. The skill requirements at Microsoft are traditionally unique, and call for diverse backgrounds. (Source: Ankur Gupta, Talent Acquisition Manager, Live Search, Redmond, Response dated 12 Feb, 2009) 22 From the beginning Gates realized that his employees were his greatest assets, shown by his quotes including “it’s the effectiveness of our  of  our developers developers that determines that  determines our success our  success” and “take our 20 our  20 best  people  people away, and Microsoft  and  Microsoft will  will become become an unimportant company  unimportant company ”. ”. 23 SL Brown, KM Eisenhardt; 1998; Competing on the Edge: Strategy as Structured Chaos 24

Source: Placement Offer Data, 2006, 2007 and 2008 – 2008 – Indian Institute of Technology of Technology (IIT). IIT engineering graduates are regularly considered among the best in the world, being offered similar paying positions as their contemporaries at MIT, Berkeley and Harvard.

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language. The importance of  hiring the right people is also shown in Microsoft’s ‘n minus 1’ strategy which means less people are employed than are required. This policy reinforces that hiring the right people is more important than hiring just hiring  just to fill a position. Microsoft retains the same basic principles as they have expanded but had to change their methods when the number

of 

new

employees

required

could

no

longer

be

sourced

only

from

universities.

The recruiting practices continue to be active rather than passive, with Microsoft ‘head hunting’ the best staff. These staff are staff  are found, monitored and recruited from other companies by over 300 recruiting experts. These staffs actively recruit suitable employees and focus on the right type of person of  person rather than the right type of  skill level. In ‘Human Resource Management: An Experiential Approach’ (Bernadin & Russell) human resources are described as an important source of  competitive advantage. Microsoft uses human resources for competitive advantage, basing its success on having the very best25 people in the industry and inspiring them to be the best. It is this that leads to Microsoft’s unique recruitment practices. What is most crucial here is that Microsoft’s recruitment practices meet its human resource needs. It is an important sign of the of  the focused approach of Microsoft, of  Microsoft, with its actions always leading towards its ultimate goals. Some important factors to be considered in recruiting staff  include that the recruiter should be from the same functional area and that candidates should not be deceived about the negative elements of a of  a  job. The interview process at Microsoft reflects this with the new employee being interviewed by the manager. The recruitment process also goes further than just than  just informing the employee about the negative aspects, instead the recruitment process actually tests the employee on the negative26 aspects, putting them under the same type of  pressure they would be put under on the job. the  job.

Taking advantage of  of Market  Market Conditions Conditions Microsoft also took advantage of breaking of  breaking opportunities such as company layoffs; one example is with the AOL down size. The CEO announced27 that when they heard AOL was downsizing Netscape’s operations in the valley, they assembled a team to identify the best talent and go knocking on doors.

Employee Motivation The key to supporting the motivation of  your employee is to understand what motivates each of  them. While the recruitment and selection process at Microsoft aims to employ people who will be motivated by the environment they are provided, the HR department at Microsoft takes great care to understand such needs and try fulfilling them for the employees. Opportunity and environment to allow the employees to progress and self  develop is a part of  the work culture that the HR staff  is expected to adhere to. The fit between employee and organization

is

important

to

motivation

and

this

is

what

Microsoft

ensures.

A study reported in the Journal of  Applied Psychology reports that employees working on projects are more

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Based on the importance placed on having the best people in the industry, their aggressive ‘head hunting’ techniques can be justified. be  justified. 26 This is an effective method, as it can be ascertained, that if the if  the employee is successful in the selection process, they will be successful within the organization. 27 ‘AOL Layoffs End an Era’; Oct 16, 2007; http://www.microsoft ‐ watch.com/content/web_se watch.com/content/web_services_browser/a rvices_browser/aol_layoffs_end_an ol_layoffs_end_an_era.html _era.html

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efficient when their goals relate to the overall team goals rather than individual goals (Kristof ‐Brown). Microsoft ensures that the goals of the of  the organization are understood via its strong culture and by employees being clearly aware of what of  what is required of them. of  them. Motivation can be described as providing a work environment in which individual needs become satisfied through efforts that also serve organizational objectives. Microsoft achieves this by incorporating their goals into their human resource management programs. The people recruited and the systems within the organization all serve to motivate the type of people of  people that Microsoft values. Employee motivation can also be related to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs of  needs theory. This theory has the top level of  the needs theory as self ‐actualization28 needs, which is a person`s need to be self ‐fulfilled. This is exactly what Microsoft provides for its staff  and also exactly what it expects, for them to be the very best they can be. The link can also be seen here between the type of people of  people that are employed and what is expected. Microsoft hires the very best people, for these people to achieve self ‐actualization they need to be pushed harder than most and given greater opportunity to achieve than most.

Employee Satisfaction and Loyalty Microsoft attempts to cater to the needs of its of  its employees by recognizing that the majority workforce comprises fresh graduates  just out of  college. This is the premise29 behind Microsoft setting up its offices as ‘campuses’ rather than plain workspace and parking space setting that was the norm before Microsoft. The environment it provides also includes every employee being free to decorate their office as they please; and the provision of  subsidized food and drink. Employee satisfaction was also afforded by the opportunity for growth, development also occurred by encouraging horizontal transfers, and employees were encouraged to develop themselves by switching jobs. switching jobs. Top management is required to coach30 lower levels and assisting in their development. These practices are designed to increase employee satisfaction and commitment to the organization, while maintaining the same spirit the small company began with. For many organizations, empowering employees is seen as a relatively new approach to handling and motivating employees – employees  – one which requires gradual changes to the corporate government and the work culture. However, in case of  Microsoft, it can be seen as an inverted view  – wherein the idea of  employee empowerment was an inherently intrinsic part of the of  the work culture since its inception.

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Maslow describes that the way to achieve this is to “provide people with opportunities to grow, be creative, and acquire training for challenging assignments and advancement”. 29 Christopher A Bartlett; Microsoft: Competing on Talent; Harvard Business School; 9‐300‐001 Rev July 25, 2001 30 This program, which was initiated during the early 1990s during the recession, also became known as ‘turning over the keys’. The premise at that time was to retain the talented employees and keep them motivated by offering them new areas of learning of  learning and self development. self development. In the hindsight, however, this was a unique exercise of employee of employee empowerment and succession planning, where the mentor would teach the protégé the skills and fineries of a of  a position before moving on to the next position and leaving a worthy successor.

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Three aspects of  tasks that affect  job satisfaction are  job complexity, degree of  physical strain and perceived value of  the task. Microsoft manages31 this by providing the high complexity high achievers require and by ensuring the perceived value of the of  the task is high. This high value is communicated via the high‐achieving culture the company maintains.

Employee Rewards: The Options-driven Engine As an organization, Microsoft still follows the firm belief  of  its followers in linking employee ownership with employee motivation and retention. Critical to this is the link between individual performance and reward, with semi‐annual performance reviews linked to pay increases, bonus awards and stock options. The formal32 review system also includes more common evaluations by managers to ensure no unexpected deviations. The system also includes the process of  employees evaluating themselves, these self ‐evaluations then being sent to the manager who does their own evaluation. The employee and manager then meet to discuss the review. Stock options awards are based on whether the employee is considered a long‐term asset of the of  the company and awarded on this basis. This is an important symbol of Microsoft’s of  Microsoft’s commitment to retaining good employees. In ‘Ideas That Will Shape the Future of Management of  Management Practice’ (Bohl, Luthans, Hodgetts & Slocum) human resources is described as being the way of  the future with it being argued that we will see a more mature articulation of  the importance of  people as a firm’s only sustainable competitive advantage. The change is described as giving high reward for high performance with the focus on a partnership. Microsoft recognizes the importance of  its people and this is reflected in the reward systems, in the sense that not only current achievements are rewarded but also rewarded are stocks to those employees that are seen as valuable future assets of  the company. This can be seen as a prime example of the of  the focus on a partnership that Microsoft aims to foster with its employees. Important to the reward system is also the fact that there are two reward paths available, one for those following the technical path and one for those following the management path. The skills of employees of  employees can be divided into three areas: conceptual skills, human skills and technical skills. Typically, conceptual skills become more required and technical skills less required as one moves up the corporate ladder. Microsoft is a company valuing technical skills, due to the nature of its of  its product. In most organizations, employees with conceptual skills would be rewarded by moving up the corporate ladder, while those with technical skills would not advance. Microsoft, however, offers two advancement paths – paths  – allowing those with technical skills to advance as technical experts, just experts,  just as those with conceptual skills advance as managers. Reward systems are an important part of organizational of  organizational culture; they communicate to employees what is valued by the organization (Robbins, Bergman & Stagg 84). By having these two reward systems, Microsoft effectively 31

This issue can also be looked at in terms of an of an employee’s role. There are three factors associated with roles – roles – role

ambiguity, role conflict and role overload. Role ambiguity is kept low by Microsoft because of the of  the consistency in the culture and in what is required; role conflict is also kept low due to clear goals and objectives; Role overload is kept high, with employees pushed to their limits. In most organizations this would be a concern, but Microsoft’s awareness of this of this means that they specifically seek employees who will react well with role overload. 32

In terms of performance, of performance, employees are measured against specific measurable goals, usually termed as SMART goals under Organizational Behaviour Terminology ‐ Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Results‐based, and Time‐bound.

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communicates that both sets of skills of  skills are valued. This is also an important sign of Microsoft’s of  Microsoft’s consistency. They recruit people for technical ability and so not rewarding for it would be dissatisfying to employees.

Growth & Acquisitions During its lifetime, Microsoft has pursued an aggressive policy of take of  take‐overs and acquisitions. This shows that as an organization, Microsoft is ready to adapt quickly to market conditions in order to appeal to its consumers. The company has carried out over 60 acquisitions in the last fifteen years. Its 1999 acquisition of  Hotmail reflected its strong belief  in the business and HR strategic need to deliver high quality services to its customers, even in the face of strong of  strong competition. The approach has allowed the company to acquire competencies it may have lacked if it if  it had followed a strategy of internal of  internal development, and allowed it to bring high quality products to market within a relatively short timeframe. Concurrently, Microsoft has strongly pursued a policy of internal of  internal development, placing a high level of emphasis of  emphasis on research and development. The company state in its January 2009 quarterly report that the concept of  service‐oriented, customized, and integrated innovation was key to strategy, which aims to deliver even greater value to customers. Hence, Microsoft has invested a great deal in product and service development.

SWOT Analysis SWOT  Analysis Strengths

Weaknesses

Existing market position Strength of  of brand brand Finance available ($60bn+) Network of  of Microsoft Microsoft Certified Partners

Maturing markets Lack in credibility compared with some competitors

Opportunities

Threats

Synergies Partnerships & alliances with PC producers Observed market changes

Antitrust legal cases from rivals Threat from upcoming online brands Unauthorised/illegal trade in pirated goods

Reshaping Microsoft’s HR HR Agenda  Agenda Lisa Brummel, who took over as the HR Director in 2005, started the process of  leaning and reshaping the processes and demographics at Microsoft. While the primary reason was the slipping company stock prices due to development problems with its key product Vista, the secondary reason was to plan for the very probable scenario of a of  a slowdown due to growing presence of competitors of  competitors like Google and Yahoo!. As an HR Director, Lisa started surveying33 all of  Microsoft’s upward of  80,000 global employees for picking up trends about work culture and employee skills and competencies, and started mapping that with the business forecast for the next few years. Some of  the changes34 that were introduced at Microsoft since that time have resulted in business machinery operating on leaner labour costs as compared to in most part of  the last 20 years.

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Source: Source: Ankur Gupta, Talent Acquisition Manager, Live Search, Redmond, Response dated 12 Feb, 2009 (Actual figures disguised) 34 M Sill; Jan 29, 2009; ‘Running Head: Microsoft Corporation’

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One of  the recent headlines about Microsoft downsizing by 10% its global workforce generated a strong response from various quarters. However, in terms of  HR strategy, this is an environment which is helping Microsoft achieve its strategy of becoming of  becoming leaner and more efficient – efficient  – a move that was started by Lisa and her team a few years back. It may be noted that the full time employees who are planned to be laid off  only comprise35 30% of  this total cut, which about to about 2,400  – coming into a phased plan spread over 2 years, this amounts to 300 employees per quarter. Most of  the brunt will be felt by the elect‐to‐work, part‐time, and vendor‐contracted workers. In terms of HR of  HR strategy, this can actually work in favour of HR of  HR department since the full time employees at Microsoft would get the underlying message that the company values their full time staff, and even in difficult times of recession, of  recession, almost all of them of  them were left untouched. Another underlying advantage is that all those employees who were not being seen as a value proposition with the future business strategy could be laid off in off  in the name of recession. of  recession. What was not noted by the media from the announcements that came from Microsoft same week helps to affirm my belief  –  – there was an announcement that Microsoft would be moving 30% of its of  its vendors off Microsoft off  Microsoft owned location, and that Microsoft would not be renewing its leases in over 70 locations worldwide – worldwide  – a move, which in my opinion, shows that Microsoft is looking forward to become most cost‐vigilant and cost‐conscious organization than it is traditionally being seen as.

Conclusion An effective HR department not only acts as a business partner of the of  the organization, but also helps in shaping the business strategy. The way the business and HR strategy have been intertwined at Microsoft is an example of  how the businesses that are run with common goals and vision make money for their investors and employees. The amount of investment of  investment that Microsoft has done for its employees and how well the HR Managers have been able to align the work culture to the business strategy is clear from the results the company has posted year after year. From being a geek’s playhouse in 1980s to being a company that is a household name everywhere in the civilized world, Microsoft is a company which is admired and envied by even its most ardent rivals. Recent changes that have happened at Microsoft, sometimes attributed to recession, indicate a move that could change the way Microsoft is looked at. The results of such of  such activities can only be seen once the economy is back to upward motion. However, for the time being, the practices and principles that Microsoft stands by can be admired and acknowledged in true earnest. The loss of  public face and reputation36 is a parcel of  any layoff  exercise, but an organization which could stand and survive through such times must have doing something right which others did not.

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G Challenger, C Inc; 2009; ‘EEs so far Escape the Rising Tide of Layoffs’; of Layoffs’; 3 DJ Flanagan, KC O'Shaughnessy ‐ Journal of Management, of  Management, 2005; ‘The Effect of Layoffs of Layoffs on Firm Reputation’; 74

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