Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond,

Washington, that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports and sells computer software,

consumer electronics and personal

computers and services. Its best known

software products are the Microsoft

Windows line of operating systems,

Microsoft Office suite, and Internet

Explorer web browser. Its flagship

hardware products are Xbox game console

and the Microsoft Surface series of tablets.

It is the world's largest software maker

measured by revenues. It is also one of the

world's most valuable companies.

Microsoft was founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen on April 4, 1975 to develop and sell

BASIC interpreters for Altair 8800. It rose to dominate the personal computer operating

system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by the Microsoft Windows. The

company's 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, created an

estimated three billionaires and 12,000 millionaires from Microsoft employees. It is

considered the third most successful startup company of all time by market capitalization,

revenue, growth and cultural impact. Since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the

operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011,

Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion in its largest acquisition to date.

As of 2013, Microsoft is market dominant in both the IBM PC-compatible operating system

and office software suite markets (the latter with Microsoft Office). The company also

produces a wide range of other software for desktops and servers, and is active in areas

including internet search (with Bing), the video game industry (with the Xbox, Xbox 360 and

Xbox One consoles), the digital services market (through MSN), and mobile phones (via the

Windows Phone OS). In June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production

market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers.

MICROSOFT'S WORK ENVIRONMENT: THE CAFFEINE CULTURE

Microsoft’s cultural norms could be traced back to the company’s start-up days when Gates,

Allen and four programmers created a hot-house of innovation and hard work. Software

developers dominated the company, and up until the early 1980s, Gates knew all their names,

faces and telephone extensions by heart.

Yet to many, Microsoft’s resource-constrained, intellect-driven management model was

disorganized, even chaotic.

By 1986, Microsoft’s nearly 1,200 employees moved into new offices in Redmond,

Washington. The low-slung buildings nestled into the 29-acre wooded “campus” were

designed in the shape of an X to maximize the number of windows. Unlike in the open-plan

buildings popular elsewhere, each employee still had a fully enclosed 9’ x 12’ office with a

door, to ensure privacy necessary to “sit and think.” Numerous cafeterias, with food at prices

subsidized by the company, facilitated social interaction. Microsoft spent more than $8,000

per employee each year on non-mandated benefits, with more than $715 a year per employee

on beverages and food subsidies alone. As one employee noted, “Anything with caffeine is

free.” In many ways, it had the feeling of a college campus and provided a comfortable post-

college sense of familiarity and belonging.

Although employees’ average age moved above thirty in the mid-1990s, the culture remained

remarkably unchanged: employees dressed informally, there were no status symbols, and the

early ethos of thrift remained. There were no set work hours, but the culture attracted those

comfortable with fourteen-hour days and working weekends. Yet motivation and morale—

routinely measured in internal surveys—remained high

Microsoft is considered by many to be an ideal place to work. The company has won several

awards forinnovation, for their commitment to diversity, and for their flexible work

arrangements. It has always been aleader in the market with regard to its compensation. With

a total strength of about 80,000 employees acrossthe globe, and a total revenue exceeding $15

billion, it is one of the biggest and best‐known6 technologycompanies in the

world.Employees have access to the most current resources, from an intranet with source

code libraries to periodicallibraries to state‐of‐the‐art research labs. Their work is personally

challenging and on the cutting edge oftechnology. The organization believes in providing the

employees whatever tools and technologies they need toachieve the best results possible; and

the employees are expected to create software and entertainmentproducts that could sell

millions of copies worldwide. The office campuses at most locations are considered

thebenchmark 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 recognized as the intellectual fuel and are provided with various benefit plans

andresources, which are designed to retain them. Lisa Brummel, who joined as the Chief of

Human Resources atMicrosoft, in 2005, started reshaping the company's HR strategies to

make them more innovative andcustomized to individual employee needs. The focus was to

project Microsoft, from an HR perspective, as anemployee‐driven organization. As an

organization, Microsoft offers a lot of flexibility to employees – the flexiblework

arrangements and flexible benefit plans offered at Microsoft are often considered Best

Practices by many employers.

HR STRATEGY AT MICROSOFT

Microsoft Corporation has

adopted the “Performance

Culture Model`` as the best

approach to drive its

success.All the critical

people metrics are

categorized andmeasured as

per the Growth Pyramid

shown in Figure.The

amount of investment made

in external and

internalsurveys is very

substantial and projects Microsoft as a leader in this regard across the industry.Some of the

categories across which the surveys are done,analyzed, and the results published are

mentioned below.

1. Organization: Organization size, open positions, line HR ratios

2. Organization Health: Workgroup Health Index,Microsoft Pulse Index, Microsoft Culture

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

internally, hiring spends,lead time, % 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

forbad attrition, % retention of high positions, % of promotions, succession planning

indicator, and successionplanning usage

5. Diversity: % of women (target vs. actual), % of women hired, % of women talent losses,

reasons for badattrition, % of women in leadership succession slate, % of Managers and

employees completing MSDiversity training programs, % of other diversity hiring

6. Manager Capability: Span of Control, Organization Depth, % of Managers

7. Learning & Development: Field Readiness Index, number of employees trained on

employeedevelopment programmes, number of managers trained through management

excellence framework (that provides for management development through career events,

continuous learning and buildingconnections)

8. Leadership Development: % of leadership hires, % of leadership attrition, succession

planningindex (%of successors in stages of readiness for a Leadership role)

9. Rewards: % 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 bothorganizational 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

organization is positionedwith 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

previous years’ successionplans and whether an organization is effectively leveraging its

succession plans when filling open leadershippositions. It indicates the percent of leadership

team positions that were filled during the past year by someonewho was on last year’s

succession slate.

In present times of recession and organizational restructuring, what businesses seek of HR is

to: a)understand the talent needs of the business b) help develop strategic plans regarding

employees c) identifytalent issues before they impact the business and d) very importantly,

help identify new business strategies.

At Microsoft, the HR department is made accountable for maximizing the value of their

people asset to drive business success. Core HR functions, processes and practices are

divided among vertical tower structures foreasier and more transparent flow of information.

The relatively independent functions also enable the businessneeds to be more closely aligned

and measured from a function unit perspective.

1. Talent Acquisition & Development

2. Management Development

3. Leadership Development

4. Management of the evolution of the Microsoft Culture

At Microsoft, the organizational culture is often termed as facilitative by the management –

there are significantinvestments made in the development of employees, and most current

support is provided for optimum career growth. The aim is to receive the best talent which is

passionate, capable, and growth‐oriented.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION: Attracting the Best and the Brightest

Beginning from its initial days, Microsoft has believed in recruiting extremely intelligent

staff, favoringintelligence over experience. Co‐founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen shared a

preference for hiring extremely intelligent, not necessarily experienced, new college

graduates dated from Microsoft’s start‐up days.Microsoft’s recruitment strategies reflect their

philosophy – Microsoft is an aggressive recruiter and is often the first company to 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

educationalfacilities such as Harvard, Yale, MIT, Carnegie‐Melon and Stanford. Microsoft

recruiters would visit theseuniversities “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 processwhich was focused more

on problem solving and thought‐process & composure‐testing exercises rather thanthe actual

technical interviews. This interviewing process was seen as one which would push the

interviewees tothe limit of their creative and analytic abilities rather than their familiarity

with a computer programminglanguage. The importance of hiring the right people is also

shown in Microsoft’s ‘n minus 1’ strategy whichmeans less people are employed than are

required. This policy reinforces that hiring the right people is moreimportant than hiring just

to fill a position.Microsoft retains the same basic principles as they have expanded but had to

change their methods when thenumber 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 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 rather than the right typeof skill

level.Microsoft uses human resources forcompetitive advantage, basing its success on having

the very best25 people in the industry and inspiring them tobe 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 animportant sign of the focused

approach 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 samefunctional area and that candidates should not be deceived about the negative

elements of a job. The interviewprocess at Microsoft reflects this with the new employee

being interviewed by the manager. The recruitmentprocess also goes further than just

informing the employee about the negative aspects, instead the recruitmentprocess actually

tests the employee on the negative aspects, putting them under the same type of pressurethey

would be put under on the job.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF MARKET CONDITIONS

Microsoft also took advantage of breaking opportunities such as company layoffs; one

example is with the AOL down size. The CEO announced 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 their employee is to understand what motivates each

of them. Whilethe recruitment and selection process at Microsoft aims to employ people who

will be motivated by theenvironment they are provided, the HR department at Microsoft takes

great care to understand such needs andtry 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 andorganization is

important to motivation and this is what Microsoft ensures.Microsoftensures that the goals of

the organization are understood via its strong culture and by employees being clearlyaware of

what is required of them.Motivation can be described as providing a work environment in

which individual needs become satisfiedthrough efforts that also serve organizational

objectives. Microsoft achieves this by incorporating their goals intotheir human resource

management programs. The people recruited and the systems within the organization allserve

to motivate the type of people that Microsoft values.Employee motivation can also be related

to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory. This theory has the top level ofthe needs theory as

self‐actualization28 needs, which is a person`s need to be self‐fulfilled. This is exactly

whatMicrosoft provides for its staff and also exactly what it expects, for them to be the very

best they can be. Thelink can also be seen here between the type of people that are employed

and what is expected. Microsoft hiresthe very best people, for these people to achieve self‐actualization they need to be pushed harder than mostand given greater opportunity to

achieve than most.

EMPLOYEE SATISFACTION AND LOYALTY:

Microsoft attempts to cater to the needs of its employees by recognizing that the majority

workforce comprisesfresh graduates just out of college. This is the premise behind Microsoft

setting up its offices as ‘campuses’rather than plain workspace and parking space setting that

was the norm before Microsoft. The environment itprovides also includes every employee

being free to decorate their office as they please; and the provision ofsubsidized food and

drink.Employee satisfaction was also afforded by the opportunity for growth, development

also occurred byencouraging horizontal transfers, and employees were encouraged to develop

themselves by switching jobs. Topmanagement is required to coach lower levels and assisting

in their development. These practices are designedto increase employee satisfaction and

commitment to the organization, while maintaining the same spirit thesmall company began

with.For many organizations, empowering employees is seen as a relatively new approach to

handling and motivatingemployees – 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 aninherently intrinsic part of the

work culture since its inception.Three aspects of tasks that affect job satisfaction are job

complexity, degree of physical strain and perceivedvalue of the task. Microsoft manages this

by providing the high complexity high achievers require and byensuring the perceived value

of the task is high. This high value is communicated via the high‐achieving culturethe

company maintains.

EMPLOYEE REWARDS: The Options drivenEngine

As an organization, Microsoft still follows the firm belief of its followers in linking employee

ownership withemployee motivation and retention. Critical to this is the link between

individual performance and reward, withsemi‐annual performance reviews linked to pay

increases, bonus awards and stock options. The formal reviewsystem also includes more

common evaluations by managers to ensure no unexpected deviations. The systemalso

includes the process of employees evaluating themselves, these self‐evaluations then being

sent to themanager 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 company andawarded on this basis. This is an important symbol of

Microsoft’s commitment to retaining good employees. In‘Ideas That Will Shape the Future of

Management Practice’ (Bohl, Luthans, Hodgetts& Slocum) human resourcesis described as

being the way of the future with it being argued that they will see a more mature articulation

ofthe importance of people as a firm’s only sustainable competitive advantage. The change is

described as givinghigh reward for high performance with the focus on a partnership.

Microsoft recognizes the importance of itspeople and this is reflected in the reward systems,

in the sense that not only current achievements arerewarded but also rewarded are stocks to

those employees that are seen as valuable future assets of thecompany. This can be seen as a

prime example of the focus on a partnership that Microsoft aims to foster withits

employees.Important to the reward system is also the fact that there are two reward paths

available, one for thosefollowing the technical path and one for those following the

management path. The skills of employees can bedivided into three areas: conceptual skills,

human skills and technical skills. Typically, conceptual skills becomemore required and

technical skills less required as one moves up the corporate ladder. Microsoft is a

companyvaluing technical skills, due to the nature of its product. In most organizations,

employees with conceptual skillswould be rewarded by moving up the corporate ladder,

while those with technical skills would not advance.Microsoft, however, offers two

advancement paths – allowing those with technical skills to advance as technicalexperts, just

as those with conceptual skills advance as managers.By having these two reward systems,

Microsoft effectivelycommunicates that both sets of skills are valued. This is also an

important sign of Microsoft’s consistency. Theyrecruit people for technical ability and so not

rewarding for it would be dissatisfying to employees.

GLOBAL BENEFITS:

Everyone works differently and is motivated by different things. That’s why they offer

competitive pay and a wide assortment of benefits — to help employee make the most of

their life at work and away from it. In exchange for a job well done, they reward employee

well, invest in their health and financial future, and —because employee are more than their

job —make sure employee have time to pursue their interests and passions away from the

office. Even their products and technologies help employee balance work with their life away

from work by making it easier to work remotely and manage their schedule. They understand

that employee will enjoy work more and do a better job if employee also have a full,

rewarding life.

Compensation

A competitive base salary

Bonuses based on performance and achievements of objectives

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Health & Wellbeing

Annual Physical Check-up

Stay Fit Program

Insurance

Group insurance for employees and dependents

Travel insurance

Personal accident insurance

Mandatory national health insurance and labour insurance

Employee Recognition

Stock Award

Spot Award

GM Award

Service Award

Allowance & Subsidy/Discount

Holiday allowance for Mid-Autumn Moon Festival, Dragon Boat Festival & Chinese

New Year

Allowance for special occasions, such as marriage, maternity, and bereavement

Social club funding

Discounts on Microsoft products and software

Work & Life Balance

Work From Home Policy

Employee Assistance Program & confidential counseling

Paid Leave

Twelve days of annual leave, and fifteen days each year after service of five years,

plus one additional day for each additional year of service after the sixth service year;

up to 30 days a year.

Paid sick leave up to fifteen days a year

Maternity leave up to ten weeks for female employees

Paternity leave

Volunteer leave up to three days each year

Fantastic Office Facilities

Bi-weekly Happy Hour (tea breaks) for employees

Free breakfast and beverages

Private and comfortable nursery rooms

Recreational and social areas

Employee Welfare Committee Benefits

Year-end party

Personal travel allowance

Family days

Movie days

Discounts on massage service, shops and restaurants

Sports club activities

Career Development

Internal & external training

Mentoring

Career path options & movements across professions

Global career opportunities

CAREER DEVELOPMENT: The door’s wide open

A mentoring discussion over coffee.

Whether employee choose a management role, dive deep into a technology, or explore

multiple professions, employee will find everything employee need to drive their career at

Microsoft. It goes beyond training—although with over 2,000 courses available globally in

classrooms or online, employee will have plenty of opportunities for that. They make sure

employee and their manager dedicate time each year to discussing their career development,

and employee can access their online career resources anytime. Plus, to give each other a

hand in getting ahead, they are all encouraged to choose—or to be—a mentor.

More Than a Job: While a career at Microsoft will always be about working with smart

people, taking on big challenges and defining the future of technology, it's also about

enjoying their life. Their people really value the idea having a good life, both at work and

away. Their culture, their benefits and their work style truly reflects this.

Vibrant and Passionate Culture: The passion of their employees is at the very essence of who

they are. The energy is totally infectious and the people around employee bring out the best

in employee every day. The camaraderie at Microsoft is unique for a large company.

Their Philosophy: An individual adventure

Defined roles. Each of their jobs has clear requirements for success but lots of room to push

boundaries and grow. Managers provide ongoing support, but ultimately employee are

empowered to shape their personal experience and chart their own career path. Employee can

go deep in an area of expertise, or move across functions or businesses to experience a

breadth of opportunity.

Career path options.Employee don’t have to be a manager to move up. Both individual

contributor and management careers progress all the way through senior levels—they highly

value both.

Movement across professions.They define desired results and consistently apply them for all

professions available in their business groups. This makes it easy for employee to learn about

each profession and identify and develop the skills employee will need if employee want to

make a change.

Their Career Guide: a clear way to manage their career

Their Career Guide is a tool that describes careers across the company and provides visibility

to those opportunities to help employee manage their career. The Career Guide helps

employee understand the skills and capabilities that contribute to success in today’s

environment, and provides a variety of ways to develop both in role and for their future

career. As part of their development, employee will have the option to engage in some 2,000

training programs taught by instructors from leading educational institutions and offered

online, virtually, or in classrooms around the globe. Employee can’t beat the level of

investment they place on career development.

Mentoring & Networking: Connections to help us grow

At Microsoft they share knowledge, experiences, and resources to help each other achieve

their career goals and grow both professionally and personally.

Mentoring allows employee to learn from the experiences of professionals within and outside

of their own area of expertise, and to build a network to help find opportunities that can

promote their development. Mentoring is a great way to make a big company feel smaller—

and its opportunities more accessible—to each of us.

Employee Resource Groups, Employee Networks and Employee social groups allow people

with common interests or backgrounds to connect with each other. Do employee love pets,

vegetarian cooking, or the environment? Do employee share a cultural background or special

need with other employees? Chances are employee will find a network of people with similar

interests and/or needs at Microsoft, and employee can connect with them as employee

develop their career and lifestyle. Being a part of the Microsoft community is a rich, fulfilling

experience.

MICROSOFT PERFORMANCE REVIEW FORM: Key Sections.

Part 1. Performance Review and Planning

A. Evaluate Performance against Objectives

List each performance objective in priority order

Beneath each performance objective summarize and rate results for this Review

period

Discuss specific reasons for the level of performance achieved on each objective, for

example:

Personal factors that helped or hindered performance

Situational factors (e.g., resources, people, events) that helped or hindered

performance

Give constructive suggestions for how performance could be improved

B. Identify Performance Plan for Next Review Period

List 5-7 specific, measurable performance objectives in priority order for the next

Review period

Identify keys to success for achieving each objective, for example:

Resources, tools, or other kinds of support

Training or development needs

Performance objectives should be mutually agreed upon by employee and manager

If employee are a manager, objectives should cover their contribution to their group or

organization, as well as their individual contribution

If employee are a senior manager, include steps employee are taking to understand

and value diversity in their organization

Part 2. Competency and Career Development

At Microsoft, each employee is responsible for owning and driving his/her own development.

The employee’s manager is responsible for providing appropriate mentoring and guidance.

This section of the Performance Review process provides a framework for a useful

employee-manager discussion. Ratings are not used in this part of the Review.

A. Identify and Discuss Strengths and Weaknesses

In this section, the employee should briefly evaluate his/her competencies:

Strengths or personal assets (e.g., attributes, skills, knowledge, experience)

that can be leveraged for career development

Current weaknesses or personal liabilities (e.g., attributes, skills, knowledge,

experience) that may limit career development

The Microsoft Competencies can be very helpful in identifying and articulating

strengths and weaknesses.

B. Identify Development Plan for Next Review Period

Identify 1-2 development objectives for the next Review period—strengths to be

leveraged, weaknesses to be addressed

Identify keys to success for achieving each objective, for example:

Resources, tools, or other kinds of support

Training or personal development needs

Information provided for each of the Microsoft Competencies can be helpful in

developing objectives.

C. Discuss Career Interests and Goals

This section is for discussion only. Written comments are not required.

In the Review meeting, it is important to have a brief discussion of the

employee’s longer-term interests, goals, and concerns. This discussion could

cover a variety of issues such as: things that are motivating or de-motivating to

the employee about his/her job and working at Microsoft; perceived

opportunities for learning, growth, and contribution; jobs or assignments of

interest to the employee; support or assistance the manager can provide

Part 3. General Comments

A. Employee Comments:

Feel free to comment on work assignment, the Review process, or the company as a

whole.

B. Reviewer Comments:

Note any additional comments regarding employee’s accomplishments and/or

performance trends.

Both the reviewer and the employee were required to complete the review form which

became the basis of at least two one-on-one feedback sessions. The on-line form was also

linked to other resources and help such as Microsoft Success Factors/Competencies, Giving

and Receiving Effective Feedback and Managing Employee Performance.

Part 4. Overall Rating and Signatures

Rating Definition

5.0 Exceptional performance rarely achieved. Marked by precedent-setting results

beyond the scope of the position. Demonstrates the highest standards of

performance excellence relative to individuals with comparable levels of

responsibility.

4.5 Consistently exceeds all position requirements and expectations.

Accomplishments are highly valued and may be well beyond the scope of the

position. Demonstrates higher standards of performance excellence relative to

individuals with comparable levels of responsibility.

4.0 Consistently exceeds most position requirements and expectations.

Accomplishments are often noteworthy. Overall performance is consistently

above levels of quality and quantity relative to individuals with comparable

levels of responsibility.

3.5 Exceeds some position requirements and expectations. Successfully

accomplishes all objectives. Overall performance consistently matches levels

of quality and quantity relative to individuals with comparable levels of

responsibility.

3.0 Meets position requirements and expectations. Accomplishes most or all

objectives. Some aspects of overall performance may require additional

development or improvement to match levels of quality and quantity relative to

individuals with comparable levels of responsibility.

2.5 Falls below performance standards and expectations of the job. Demonstrates

one or more performance deficiencies that hinder acceptable performance

relative to individuals with comparable levels of responsibility.

1.0-2.0 Does not meet minimum requirements in critical aspects of the job and has

numerous performance deficiencies that prevent success at Microsoft.

MICROSOFT AT INDIA

Microsoft India’s HR Approach

Organizational capability & change

Talent management

Leadership

Technical training for developers & software architects

Microsoft India’s HR Growth Model

Career Management

Microsoft India provides both vertical and lateral growth. Lateral growth through job

rotation.

Six business units have different business divisions where employees can make

career.

Research,

Development,

Testing,

Consulting,

Sales & Marketing,

Technical support,

Senior Employees behave as Mentors.

Flexible Work Timings

It enables employees work according to their convenience

Sense of responsibility and discipline

Helps in building rapport

Served as retention scheme for employees

Employee Retention at Microsoft India Global Technical Support Center (MSGTSC)

Sound Infrastructure

Errorless implementation

Leading change

MSGTSC located in Bangalore providing 24/7 services

They conducted a questionnaire survey

Details are collected to frame an Employee value proposition

8 needs in Employee value proposition

Working with technology everyday

Caring for every employee

Working in an energizing environment

People –friendly benefits

Building careers in life

Recognizing great work

Enjoying each day

Making a difference globally

Launched “Employee and Microsoft, Living the Experience together!”

Performance Appraisal & Compensation System

Brummell changed the performance review system called as forced curve system introduced

in early 1980s. In this system numbers of employees rated with best ranking were limited.

While bringing changes in forced curve system she faced opposition from Ballmer the CEO

proving the concept of David (2003) people resist to change. Brummell was partially able to

cope with situation by modifying the system however she was not fully successful to make

system according to employee’s suggestions. She also reinstated the stock option to previous

position of 15% discount, resulting in boasting employee morale. Brummell asked the

employees for there need and areas where they want change followed the concept of Maslow

(1934) regarding employee’s needs. She implemented the change in same manner which was

proposed by Levin and Gottlieb (2009). Higher compensation is now given based on Skills,

Experience of candidates.

Benefits

The company offers Savings Plus 401(k) plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP), paid

maternity and paternity leave, tuition reimbursement, annual bonuses, etc. The company’s

culture is also an important HR factor as it refers to employee motivation, development and

quality of work.Employee benefits were standardized.Flexible Benefits in India. At

Microsoft India they understand that each employee has unique benefit needs and to meet that

they offer flexible benefits. Flexible benefits puts the control in their hands to choose the mix

of benefits that best suit employee and their family. They make the benefits fit employee

instead of just offering a standard set of benefits. Here’s a bird’s-eye view.

Health and Wellness

They provide comprehensive and flexible healthcare coverage for employee and their eligible

dependents. Plus they offer dental and vision coverage, on-site health screenings,

reimbursement of health club memberships, access to medical facilities on campus as well as

office ergonomics resources and tools.

Family and parenting

Their family will enjoy a wide range of benefits, including maternity leave, paid time off for

new moms and dads, and reimbursement of crèche fees.

Investing

They provide an employee stock purchase program that allows employees to purchase shares

of Microsoft stock at a discount.

Giving together

They love giving to their communities and to causes that their employees care most about.

They match the money employee contribute to eligible charities or educational institutions up

to Rs 50,000 per employee per year. It's just another way that Microsoft employees are

making a difference!

Learning and development

They encourage constant learning so employee can stay sharp. Engage in any of over 2,000

internal training programs that are offered online, virtually, or in classrooms around the

globe. Employee can’t beat the level of investment they place on career development.

Women’s Empowerment

Special recruitment drives to raise the female to male ratio in the workforce.

“One-India women’s conference” conducted annually.

Microsoft Corporation is in the list of “100 best companies for working women” for

eight consecutive years till 2010.

Work-Life Balance

In 2007 launched a program called “Bring their child to work”.

Initiated as a family-friend HR policy.

500 children across the country participated.

HR Metrics Followed by Microsoft India

Organization health

Staffing

Talent management

Diversity

Manager capability

Learning & development

Leadership development

Rewards

Community Work by Employees

Microsoft India earmarked one of the months in a year for employees to work for

social cause of their choice.

In 2000, MSIDC started a culture of contribution in which employees donated money

to social service organization.

CSR ACTIVITY OF MICROSOFT

“Their commitment to citizenship is brought to life by the work they do in serving

communities, championing the growth of their people, and meeting their commitment to

responsible business policies and practices.” –Steve Ballmer

This past year they took the first bold steps in their transformation to a devices and services

company. In July 2013, they declared that Microsoft’s focus will be to create a family of

devices and services for individuals and businesses that empower people around the globe at

home, at work and on the go, for the activities they value most.

Fiscal Year 2013 was a pivotal year for Microsoft — and that was reflected in their

citizenship work. This report describes that work and shares their vision for what lies ahead.

Published at the same time as their annual financial report, it provides a full accounting of

their citizenship priorities and performance.

Report Highlights:

Their 30th employee giving campaign, in which the company matches employee

financial and volunteer contributions. In Fiscal Year 2013, Microsoft and its

employees gave more than $100 million to over 18,000 nonprofits worldwide, and

surpassed $1 billion of total contributions since their first campaign in 1983.

The launch of Microsoft YouthSpark, a global initiative to connect hundreds of

millions of youth with opportunities for education, employment and entrepreneurship.

In its first year, YouthSpark empowered more than 100 million youth in over 100

countries.

Through Technology for Good,they donated $795 million in software to more than

70,000 nonprofits. They also developed a program to donate Office 365 to nonprofits

in 41 countries and help them better serve their communities.

To address climate change,they met their goal of carbon neutrality by establishing

an internal carbon fee to guide responsible choices and practices that help us

minimize their environmental footprint.

They enhanced their transparency practices by releasing their first report of law

enforcement requests for Microsoft account user data. This report detailed the number

of data requests they received from official legal entities, the number of requests they

granted, and the rigor of their review process for each request.

BIBLOGRAPHY

www.google.com

www.wikipedia.com

www.microsoft.com