Microsoft has published its Corporate Social Responsibility report for the 2016 fiscal year, which ended this summer. In it, the company espouses the work it has done to address social, environmental, technological, and economic issues around the world.
According to the company’s often-stated goals, it has three main areas it focuses on when it comes to corporate social responsibility. These are earning trust, empowering people, and organizations, safeguarding the future of our planet through eco-friendly and green technologies. The 2016 CSR report highlights some of the work Microsoft has done in each of these fields.
Curiously, one area which seems to have been omitted is equality in the workplace. Microsoft is being sued in a class-action lawsuit for gender discrimination, and the US Department of Labor said it had found preliminary evidence of gender-bias inside of the company, but the firm didn't explicitly touch on this in its summary.
However, those issues should not take away from Microsoft’s positive projects. Here are some of the more important ones, many of which we’ve covered previously:
- Expanding our commitment to sustainability by establishing new energy goals, including having our data centers rely on a larger percentage of wind, solar and hydro power electricity over time.
- Prioritizing inclusive design and accessibility in the development of our products and services to empower everyone, while deepening our inclusive culture at Microsoft.
- Enhancing our companywide privacy principles and the Microsoft Privacy Statement to protect our customers’ personal data and their right to privacy.
- Holding our suppliers accountable to human rights, labor, health and safety, environmental, and business ethics practices prescribed in our Supplier Code of Conduct.
- Expanding economic opportunity to every corner of the planet through Microsoft Philanthropies’ three-year commitment to donate $1 billion in public cloud computing for nonprofits around the world.
- Contributing to public policy discussions with a new book, “A Cloud for Global Good,” which lays out a roadmap of 78 specific policy recommendations to help ensure cloud computing is trusted, responsible and inclusive.
Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella also published a letter, reiterating some of these achievements and pledging to continue to try and have a positive impact on the world.
Source: Microsoft CSR
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