Should Microsoft Have Kept Mum On Gates, Nixed Employee Board Representation? 58
theodp writes: Video of Microsoft's Annual Shareholder Meeting in Dec. 2019, at which the company's Board of Directors dismissed the idea that employee Board representation was necessary to combat issues -- including sexual harassment -- takes on new significance in light of the company's response to a recent WSJ report that Bill Gates left the Microsoft Board in March 2020 amid a probe launched in late 2019 into a prior relationship with a staffer that was deemed inappropriate. "Microsoft received a concern in the latter half of 2019 that Bill Gates sought to initiate an intimate relationship with a company employee in the year 2000," a Microsoft spokesman said in response to the WSJ story. "A committee of the Board reviewed the concern, aided by an outside law firm to conduct a thorough investigation."
At the 2019 Annual Meeting, Microsoft Board Chair John Thompson kicked things off by thanking shareholders for their trust before introducing the nominees for the board of directors who were in attendance, starting with "Bill Gates, our cofounder." Attention then turned to "a shareholder proposal requesting a report on Employee Representation on the Board of Directors," which shareholder advocate Mari Schwartzer argued was called for in light of "alleged gender discrimination and sexual harassment within our company." Unswayed by that argument, Microsoft Corporate Secretary Dev Stahlkopf responded that the Board had decided to nix the proposal as unnecessary, explaining that "the Board is already deeply engaged on providing oversight of workplace culture," which she noted included "receiving direct feedback from employees through anonymous polls."
Schwartzer made the same proposal -- which again fell on deaf Board ears -- the next year at Microsoft's Dec. 2020 Annual Meeting. Gates was no longer on the Board at that time -- he resigned in Mar. 2020 just three months after his re-election for what Microsoft billed to the SEC as a chance to devote himself more fully to philanthropy, repeating the same reasons Gates provided in a self-published LinkedIn post (no connection was made between his departure and the Board's investigation, and a recent statement from a Gates spokesperson insisted, "Bill's decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter"). However, the Microsoft Board of Directors made sure shareholders were aware of Bill's continuing influence at Microsoft in a letter included in Microsoft's 2020 SEC proxy filing. The Board wrote, "This year, Co-Founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepped down from the Company's Board of Directors to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities. He continues to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders in the Company. The Board has benefited from Bill's leadership and vision in innumerable ways over the years, and we are grateful for his contributions and insights."
In an interview on CNBC last Friday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was pressed to address the issue of Bill Gates' acknowledged 2000 affair with a Microsoft employee. "The power dynamic in the workplace is not something that can be abused in any form," Nadella replied, "and the most important thing is for us to make sure that everybody is comfortable in being able to raise any issues they see, and for us to be able to fully investigate it." So, with all of the revelations and bad press, will Microsoft's Board reject the idea of Employee Board Representation for a third year straight while keeping mum on Gates later this year at the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting?
At the 2019 Annual Meeting, Microsoft Board Chair John Thompson kicked things off by thanking shareholders for their trust before introducing the nominees for the board of directors who were in attendance, starting with "Bill Gates, our cofounder." Attention then turned to "a shareholder proposal requesting a report on Employee Representation on the Board of Directors," which shareholder advocate Mari Schwartzer argued was called for in light of "alleged gender discrimination and sexual harassment within our company." Unswayed by that argument, Microsoft Corporate Secretary Dev Stahlkopf responded that the Board had decided to nix the proposal as unnecessary, explaining that "the Board is already deeply engaged on providing oversight of workplace culture," which she noted included "receiving direct feedback from employees through anonymous polls."
Schwartzer made the same proposal -- which again fell on deaf Board ears -- the next year at Microsoft's Dec. 2020 Annual Meeting. Gates was no longer on the Board at that time -- he resigned in Mar. 2020 just three months after his re-election for what Microsoft billed to the SEC as a chance to devote himself more fully to philanthropy, repeating the same reasons Gates provided in a self-published LinkedIn post (no connection was made between his departure and the Board's investigation, and a recent statement from a Gates spokesperson insisted, "Bill's decision to transition off the board was in no way related to this matter"). However, the Microsoft Board of Directors made sure shareholders were aware of Bill's continuing influence at Microsoft in a letter included in Microsoft's 2020 SEC proxy filing. The Board wrote, "This year, Co-Founder and Technology Advisor Bill Gates stepped down from the Company's Board of Directors to dedicate more time to his philanthropic priorities. He continues to serve as Technology Advisor to CEO Satya Nadella and other leaders in the Company. The Board has benefited from Bill's leadership and vision in innumerable ways over the years, and we are grateful for his contributions and insights."
In an interview on CNBC last Friday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was pressed to address the issue of Bill Gates' acknowledged 2000 affair with a Microsoft employee. "The power dynamic in the workplace is not something that can be abused in any form," Nadella replied, "and the most important thing is for us to make sure that everybody is comfortable in being able to raise any issues they see, and for us to be able to fully investigate it." So, with all of the revelations and bad press, will Microsoft's Board reject the idea of Employee Board Representation for a third year straight while keeping mum on Gates later this year at the 2021 Annual Shareholders Meeting?
Gates can't get a date (Score:4, Insightful)
If a centibillionaire can't get a date, then what hope do I have?
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
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Well, money did buy Bill 27 years of Melinda at least.
Re:Gates can't get a date (Score:4, Informative)
Well, money did buy Bill 27 years of Melinda at least.
According to TFS, he was cheating on her by year six.
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Re:Gates can't get a date (Score:5, Insightful)
The thing I don't get is how people seem all surprised.
You and I have similar UIDs so we're technically speaking old farts who have been on slashdot for nearly 20 years. So we remember all the blatantly illegal shit Microsoft did under the leadership of Bill Gates back in the day, not to mention the not proven illegal but deeply skeezy stuff. Then spent 15 years trying to buy redemption with his ill gotten gains.
And now people are all shocked Pikachu face that Bill Gates is in fact a massive asshole.
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:-)
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Fun fact: Bill Gates is the reason there is no open source vaccine [wired.com]. Once a monopolist, always a monopolist.
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Oh yes, with that kind of money, he definitely can buy a date. What he can't buy is real love.
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If a centibillionaire can't get a date, then what hope do I have?
With that attitude? None.
Why should the board be diverse? (Score:2, Troll)
Inappropriate affairs and harassment are HR matters. If HR needs superficial diversity (I say superficial because I do not believe sex or skin color to significantly inform who you are as a person) in order to make people more comfortable coming forward, so be it. I'm e
Re: Why should the board be diverse? (Score:1)
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C-level and board positions should ideally be made up of the most qualified individuals able to fill those roles. What does a penis or vagina have to do with operations? What does having different skin pigmentation have to do with finance?
Having a bunch of people with similar experiences and backgrounds leads to holes in thinking because the collective experience is limited. I've worked with seriously non diverse teams (and I'm including age under diversity) and they tend to suffer from awful groupthink.
But
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Hehe "-1 wrong opinion" mod.
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Having a diverse C level is important because the people lower down the hierarchy are diverse too. The pool of talent being hired from is diverse.
So it helps to have first hand experience of e.g. being a woman in tech at C level. Otherwise you risk ending up like Uber, a toxic environment for large groups of people (women are 50% of the population). With Uber it was a case of nobody who understood the problem being in a position to influence or fix it.
C level mostly only answers to other C levels so it's ea
Why do they wait decades before speaking up? (Score:1)
Almost two decades. Does it take that long to muster up courage? Or have the rules changes in the meantime to make it easier to complain?
Re:Why do they wait decades before speaking up? (Score:5, Insightful)
Almost two decades. Does it take that long to muster up courage?
Sometimes it does. Many victims think they are isolated and won't be believed. Then one will speak out, and the other victims of the same perv realize that they weren't alone, so they will speak up as well and say "Me too" [wikipedia.org].
Or have the rules changes in the meantime to make it easier to complain?
Yes, the rules have changed. Mostly for the better.
It's very reasonable. You don't shit where you eat (Score:5, Insightful)
Almost two decades. Does it take that long to muster up courage? Or have the rules changes in the meantime to make it easier to complain?
If my CEO did something against regulations, I wouldn't complain because I need a job. Once I've left and had a few good entries on my resume?...sure. However, if I reported something right now, I risk getting fired and it's REALLY tough to find a new job when you've been fired. Your employer will most likely lie about the reason you were terminated, so you need to go to court to get that straightened...
Imagine a woman who hypothetically was propositioned by the CEO. OK, her employer says she was fired for poor work. So she walks into your office and when asked why she left her previous job after a few questions she admits she left due to sexual harassment and is suing them...your HR dept calls and says she was terminated with cause for subpar work. What do you do? While this is happening, another person applies for the job 2 weeks later who is 98% as qualified as this first candidate. You have a choice between largely equivalent candidates except one has a good recommendation from their past employer and the other burnt bridges and tells you a story about being propositioned by the CEO and that she has a pending court case against them...which do you pick? Do you take the risk that the woman could be lying & could be toxic...or go with the no-drama candidate? Accusations don't need to be remotely true or even plausible to harm you. After all, when you hear Richard Gere and rodent, what comes to mind?....a wild story with no credibility...but you're still thinking about that instead of "An Officer and a Gentleman"
I was let go from a contracting gig for filing too many bugs against the woman who was blowing my boss's boss when I was in my early 20s. I didn't know until I was let go she was having an affair with him, but the bugs were legit and carefully and professionally documented...she was a nice woman who I got along with, but she did bad work...however, I made her look bad and he demanded I must go. Fortunately, it was a shitty job and I wasn't there long, but it was tough finding my next job because all of my references were from my previous job or peers. Since I was young and new, they wanted to hear from my previous boss and he didn't want to get in the middle of it. I finally landed a great job because I did well on the interview and they didn't care about my past, but it took me a few tries and we were in a recession at the time. I was pretty terrified.
So yeah...if Bill Gates tried to shove his dick up my ass, I'd wait VERY long until reporting it and would certainly not be the first...the first accuser always gets the most scrutiny. As they say, "you'll recognize the pioneers by the arrows in their back."
And if you think HR is there to help YOU (Score:3)
I have some investment opportunities for you to consider.
HR's primary job is to keep the company out of court. Next to keep employment costs down. The one HR person I knew who was really focused on helping employees almost got fired. Instead they hired a boss over him to make sure -he- toed the company line. (He was retired Air Force, which is why he didn't have the same perspective as the other HR people.)
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There's a second factor which is HR is a shit job. Some kids think they want to be a dustman (you might be carrying smelly rubbish, but it's good, honest work, necessary for society).
No one aspires to work in HR. It's a shit job for shit people who couldn't get better jobs elsewhere and tends to be populated with the whiny and, frankly, workshy.
Consensual? (Score:4, Insightful)
Missing from the summary, and maybe from the articles: whether the relationship Bill Gates sought with said staffer was mutually consensual.
a) If it was mutually consensual, then that relationship has absolutely no connection with the topic of the Board of Directors having or not having Employee Representation, and is by itself a complete non-issue.
b) Now, if Bill Gates was trying to force that relationship, and using his "I have money" superpower to get it, that's an entirely different matter and both topic are most definitely related.
The fact four long paragraphs trying (and failing) to explaining the issue make no mention at all about it having been forced suggests it's option "a", so the author is doing the next best thing when one's goal is to push an agenda: to imply without actually affirming, so as to be able to deny one were doing any such thing.
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Consensual, as has been reported to death already.
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Yeah, I read that it was consensual at the time as well.
But how consensual is it when the person who is asking is basically one of the richest person in the world with access to all sorts of other powerful people and is probably your main ultimate boss?
On the flip side, how do the uber billionaires get a date when the person they are asking may just be too fearful to say no, even if the billionaire is a legit nice person and has no plans to do anything bad if rejected?
Bezos, Zuckerberg, etc, if they are sin
Re: Consensual? (Score:2)
I think the expectation is that adults can make their own decision about whether they want to date you or not.
Re: Consensual? (Score:4, Insightful)
I think the expectation is that adults can make their own decision about whether they want to date you or not.
The standard is that adults whose lives you are in a position to fuck up are supposed to be free from making those decisions, or they are in a hostile work environment.
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In this example, instead of those guys Bezos and Zuckerberg, couldn't you rather have used the names of one or two gazillionaires that are universally liked and respected and known as "legit nice persons", you know, like for instance .... uhmmm ... uhmmm. Sorry nevvermind.
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Even if it was consensual the problem is the power dynamic. Say she decided to end it one day, could she do that without worrying about it affecting her career?
It's possible that the answer is yes, but it's such a minefield a lot of companies don't allow it. Gates should really have stepped down if he wanted to continue that relationship.
Re: Consensual? (Score:2)
One should be judged only by what one effectively did and does, never by what one could have done (but didn't), nor by what others did and do. Anything else is unjust.
Re: Consensual? (Score:2)
No he shouldn't have.
People are entitled to fuck whoever agrees to fuck with them.
Stop making drama for nothing and forcing stupidity on others.
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The key word there is "agrees". Consent has to be freely given, and the fact that he was her boss makes it basically impossible.
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That seems like a very dishonest position to take.
TFA says she was "an engineer". Gates would have been so many levels removed from her that, realistically, they might as well have been working for different companies.
There are basically two ways things could have gone if she'd chosen to reject him (which, I'll remind you, she did not) - either he accepts it and walks away, or he goes on a crusade to reach a dozen levels down the org chart just to make her life miserable, while also being aware that if Meli
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I'm not suggesting that there was anything wrong with their relationship. I'm saying that from the company's point of view, from the HR rules point of view, it's a minefield.
Resign for Diversity (Score:3, Insightful)
Bill Appears To Have Taken A Powder (Score:2)
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In his first public appearance since he and Melinda French Gates announced their divorce on Twitter, Gates spoke at the US Chamber of Commerce's Global Forum on Economic Recovery [archive.org] on May 19. Sponsored by Amazon and Google, the virtual conference speakers included CEOs, Presidents, and top execs from IBM, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon.
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What's the point? (Score:1)
Employee board representation is a laudable idea, goal. Yet the idea is at the mercy of the company leadership, and moreover the culture.
I have worked at tech companies where on paper all these boards, policies, etc. are in place, but they're a whitewash and classic CYA (cover your a**) for lawsuits, complaints, and investigations. Several recent tech companies have created boards, committees, etc. for some issue but then three things happen, zip, zero, and zilch...and the matter is then quietly dropped and
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Just say no (Score:2)
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That's easy for you to say. For some people, the stakes are much higher, and the consequences of refusal are much more severe.
Re: Just say no (Score:2)
what exactly are the consequences?
boss will be disappointed, maybe upset?
How is it different than any other issue people have about their boss?
If you're unhappy about your boss for any reason, you have two choices:
- mention it to his boss (or HR, whatever is the appropriate level for the problem to be addressed), negotiate a different reporting structure or force the guy to behave
- change jobs
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Not everybody has their pick of jobs, as you apparently do. Some people would have to take a drastic pay cut to change jobs. Should they, if that's their only choice without sleeping with the boss? Yes, but that doesn't make the decision easy.
Many times HR is in the pocket of said boss, because they too answer to him.
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Cheeto-dusted, basement dwelling neckbeard tells us what he would do if he were sexually harassed.
Speaking from experience, eh?
2006:Workplace Romance A No-No at Gates Foundation (Score:4, Insightful)
From the /. archives: Workplace Romance A No-No at Gates Foundation [slashdot.org]
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Another Slashdot link, another RTFA comment [slashdot.org] within, mentioning content that seems contradictory to the headline:
"It doesn't say they're forbidden, it says they should be disclosed to HR. It's a fairly common practice."
What is the issue? (Score:2)
She's an adult, he's an adult. Was their a quid pro quo or harassment or blackmail or do it or else or ...?
BTW, Bill & Melinda started in the workplace.
This sounds more like Melinda laying the groundwork for a larger divorce settlement. This plus the recent rumors about Bill Gates' association with Jeffrey Epstein.
Re:What is the issue? (Score:5, Interesting)
It's not possible for a boss dating a subordinate, to be objective in his treatment of her, compared to others. Everybody knows she's the favorite, that she is treated differently. This makes for a very demoralizing situation for other employees.
Re: What is the issue? (Score:2)
and exactly why is it a problem?
you think your boss doesn't prefer some employees over others anyway?
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Bosses can be jackasses for many reasons besides dating a subordinate. This is just one of many bad behaviors that demoralize coworkers. The fact that bosses can be jerks for many reasons, does not mean it's OK.
The point is that it's not possible to treat everyone fairly, while dating one subordinate.
Okay - now you know there IS a problem there... (Score:2)
"The power dynamic in the workplace is not something that can be abused in any form," [said] Nadella.
Nadella is like Pichai: he lies with such absolute consistency that if he says X, you can literally bet money that whatever the truth is it's absolutely *not* X.