Microsoft puts light on veteran hiring amid DEI backlash

The political and legal backlash over diversity and inclusion efforts isn't stopping Microsoft from expanding the scope of its diversity reporting.

Microsoft is stepping up its diversity and inclusion disclosures, despite the national political reaction to the topic. It's releasing more data about its workforce and expanding its reporting on an often-overlooked group in tech: military veterans.

Microsoft, in its just released 2024 Global Diversity and Inclusion Report, doesn't label its reporting as efforts in diversity, equity and inclusion or DEI, which has become a lightning-rod term in national politics. For years, the company has used the term diversity and inclusion. In this report, Microsoft seems to be making a point that diversity and inclusion is about more than gender, race and ethnicity by adding employees who self-identify as military veterans.

Microsoft reported that 4.8% of its U.S. workforce -- about 6,000 employees -- are veterans, a significant disclosure in a sector where veteran hiring data is rarely highlighted. That was a 0.1% increase from the prior year. As of June, Microsoft employed roughly 228,000 people globally, with 126,000 in the U.S., according to a recent financial filing.

A subtle challenge to critics? 

Diversity and inclusion efforts are increasingly under attack in Congress, in U.S. politics and in the courts. But Microsoft is expanding the definition of diversity, and in a way that might challenge critics by pointing out that diversity and inclusion efforts include veterans. 

Microsoft began reporting on its U.S. military veteran workforce in 2022. It now offers employees in 38 countries, including the U.S., the ability to self-identify as veterans. "With this self-identification option, we aim to create more visibility for the thousands of employees in the Microsoft military community, spark discussion about the military experience at Microsoft, and better understand and support the diversity of our workforce," the company stated in its diversity report.

Only a small fraction of Microsoft's peers report veteran hiring data. According to a report late last year by Purpose Brand, a strategic communications company, 154 of the Fortune 500 companies publish diversity reports. However, only 27 of those organizations -- just over 5% -- include data on veterans.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission doesn't include military veterans as a protected category, but veterans are protected under the disability laws and the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act. And studies suggest that veterans can face bias and stereotyping when seeking civilian jobs. 

"Veterans should be treated like every other category recognized by the EEOC," said Kyndra Rotunda, a professor of military and international law at Chapman University. "I think it's ironic that the EEOC may be treating veterans disparately."

In a blog post about the report, Lindsay-Rae McIntyre, Microsoft's chief diversity officer and corporate vice president of talent and learning, wrote: "Our ongoing focus on diversity and inclusion is directly tied to our inherently inclusive mission -- to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, enabling us to innovate in the era of AI."

Microsoft called its latest report its most transparent yet, with more detailed breakdowns and new data points such as percentages of people in data center roles. 

The U.S. Department of Defense has long had programs to help hire military veterans. An often-cited problem for veterans joining the civilian workforce is translating military skills into civilian occupations. The DOD has been turning to HR recruiting vendors to help improve the analysis of veteran skills and its civilian job transition services.

According to a Pew Research Center study last year, there are about 18 million military veterans in the U.S., or about 6% of the population. However, the number of working-age veterans is smaller. About 30% of all living veterans are from the Vietnam era, which ended in 1975. The youngest Vietnam-era veterans today are in their mid-60s. 

Patrick Thibodeau is an editor at large for TechTarget Editorial who covers HCM and ERP technologies. He's worked for more than two decades as an enterprise IT reporter.

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