Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella will set out on September 4, 2025 following the White House Task Force meeting on AI education in the Eastern Room of the White House in Washington.
Eric Lee | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told employees at a meeting Thursday that after announcing several layoffs and mandated partial returns to the mandated partial work, there is something to do to smooth out their relationship with employees.
At the online meeting, employees asked executives to talk about what is perceived about the lack of empathy in the company’s culture, as it is the step Microsoft is taking to rebuild trust with the workforce.
“I am deeply grateful for the questions and emotions behind it,” Nadella said in an audio sourced by CNBC. “I accept that as feedback from me and everyone on the leadership team because at the end of the day we think we can do better.”
Nadella’s comments come after Microsoft cut significantly in July 9,000 jobs, which was cut a few months ago. On Tuesday, Microsoft said workers living near their headquarters in Redmond, Washington, must come to the office three days a week starting in February to continue their wider deployment.
Microsoft Human Resources Director Amy Coleman said at a meeting Thursday that some workers feel they have lost autonomy as receptions to announce their return to the office are mixed. But she said Seattle employees are already in 2.4 times a week, and 2.4 times already.
Like most of the technology industry, Microsoft has specifically used the video and chat offerings from internal teams that have become completely distant during the pandemic and have been able to recruit quickly during that period. Microsoft requires you to return to the office later than most peers. Amazon, one of Microsoft’s top rivals, brought employees back to the office five days a week in January.
While Nadella and the management team are receiving criticism from some staff, Wall Street praises the company for its growth and execution. This year, stock prices rose almost 20%, surpassing the broader market, pushing Microsoft’s market capitalization to $3.7 trillion. nvidia Among the most valuable companies in the world.
In July, Microsoft reported that its net profit had risen 24% to $27 billion. The company’s total margin was less than 69% compared to 71% in the second half of 2023. Data center infrastructure is rapidly constructed and rented to meet the demand for artificial intelligence.
Nadella said at the meeting that people who are new employees and early in their careers, along with remote work, don’t always feel an apprenticeship or teaching sense.
“Management is almost all remote, but the internships are all in one place,” he said. “And they just break the social contract.”
Microsoft did not immediately provide comment.
With Microsoft’s rapid expansion, Nadella said the company is under pressure. This is a common theme in the software industry as there are concerns about the impact of AI and the potential to automate tasks.
“We have some very, very hard work ahead of us, and the difficult process of updating is essentially something we have to do,” Nadella said. “You have to be hardcore in terms of intellectual integrity about what really needs to happen.”
Microsoft’s Azure Cloud Business grew 39% in the last quarter, while Windows and Devices Business revenues rose just 2.5%.
“Some of the biggest businesses we’ve built may still be unrelated,” Nadella said. “Some of the margins we love today may not be there tomorrow. That means you have to go all the way ahead with everyone leaving, right?”
Celebrating its 50th anniversary in April, Microsoft will retain its core values as it faces market reality. Nadella said.
“There’s one simple truth in the capital market,” he said. “No company has permission to exist forever.”
It wasn’t the only controversial topic at the meeting.
Employees are awaiting details of a third-party investigation after the Guardian said in August that Israeli military used Microsoft’s azure cloud infrastructure to store Palestinian phones as part of Israel’s Gaza invasion. According to an Apartheid’s Azure No Azure statement, Microsoft fired five employees after protesting at Redmond’s headquarters.
Brad Smith, Microsoft president of the office where the protesters were in its doors, addressed the issue Thursday. He said he and Coleman met with Jewish Microsoft employees. He was harassed and threatened and saw their public information being shared online.
“We can’t control what happens outside of Microsoft, but we need to be clear about one thing,” Smith said. “Microsoft has no room for anti-Semitism, and as a company and as a community, we protect this group and then protect them.”
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