This summer, Microsoft UK asked more partners to sign the Microsoft Partner Pledge as a way for Microsoft Partners to collectively take responsibility for ensuring that the economic recovery and growth from this global pandemic is inclusive. To do that, everyone needs the skills and opportunity to make the most of what’s ahead.
We signed the pledge some years ago but wanted to take this opportunity to re-look at and talk about our commitment to diversity & inclusion, and sustainability.
Diversity and Inclusion
As a company, we have always taken social responsibility to heart and one of our key areas of focus is human rights education. Both our MD, Andrew Chalmers and our Marketing Coordinator, Leah Monterroso, work personally with human rights youth education foundations in India, Nepal and Guatemala.
Closer to home, we apply a zero-policy against discrimination of any kind. It is important to us that the work environment is a friendly and inclusive place to work.
In signing the pledge, we took a new look at our staff and where we stand.
63% of our management team are women – 41% above UK average*1
33% of our technical team are black, Asian and minority ethnic – 15% above UK average*2
We can take some satisfaction with these figures; though there is always room for improvement – only 13% of our technical team are women – 7% below UK average*1
And so we will now aim to further bring the opportunity of technical positions to more women.
*1) https://technation.io/insights/diversity-and-inclusion-in-uk-tech-companies/
*2) https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/Is-the-dial-shifting-for-underrepresented-groups-in-the-UKs-tech-sector
Sustainability
Sustainability is a global challenge and one that we all have to focus on a micro level to be a part of the change towards a sustainable future. This year, we achieved our target of going cloud-only, something that helps our carbon-footprint enormously.
Microsoft commissioned a study to compare the energy use and carbon footprint of Microsoft cloud offerings for businesses with corresponding Microsoft on-premise deployments.
The study found that, for large deployments, Microsoft’s cloud solutions can reduce energy use and carbon emissions by more than 30 percent when compared to their corresponding Microsoft business applications installed on-premise. The benefits are even more impressive for small deployments: Energy use and emissions can be reduced by more than 90 percent with a shared cloud service.
You can see the full study here: Cloud Computing and Sustainability Whitepaper PDF
Naturally, this is just one step, with more steps to be taken. In every aspect, there are ways of having a positive impact, for example, with our entire workforce now working from home for the foreseeable future, the carbon footprint of driving to and from work has been greatly reduced. We commit to looking for more ways of becoming carbon neutral.
In Closing
You can view the full partner pledge and our post committing to responsible and ethical AI.
If you would like to discover more about Microsoft’s work in apprenticeships and digital skilling, you will find incredible resources for children, teachers and parents, young people looking to apprentice and adults looking to upskill.
