A new report from Business Insider point to a toxic work environment in the halls of Microsoft, specifically again three current or former executives. These allegations come despite a previous promise from CEO Satya Nadella to clean up Microsoft’s reputation in the workplace.
The report names current HoloLens chief Alex Kipman, former Windows head Terry Myerson, and Tom Kean, an executive on the Azure team who helped finalize the $10 billion JEDI War Cloud project.
Furthermore, it also suggests that Satya Nadella does not tackle situations of misconduct or toxicity well. In fact, the report says he prefers to avoid conflict. The former Microsoft exec who is the source of the allegations says Nadella prefers to approach issues as “(w)hat’s something we can do to make it go away without making hard decisions?”
Looking at Kipman, the report points to an incident where the executive was in a management session with male and female managers. While showing a demo of a Mixed Reality program, Kipman was streaming what he saw on HoloLens onto a screen.
The report says Kipman has been the subject of more complaints of “inappropriate touching and comments” but remains in his job.
Other Allegations
As for Terry Myserson, a former long-time Microsoft employee who latterly headed Windows, the report points to issues during his tenure:
“A person who worked directly for Myerson for years said he was known throughout his career for “abusing, berating, and belittling” employees. Another person who worked closely with Myerson described him as “bullying, extremely abusive, angry.”
Myerson enjoyed a protected status at the company for years, insiders said. But shortly before he left the company in early 2018, he “had a complete meltdown” backstage at a Microsoft event, according to a person who witnessed the incident. “He yelled at everyone and proceeded to berate them in a very public forum.”
Myerson later left Microsoft seemingly on good terms, but the sources tell BI that the above incident “played a major role” in him leaving the company.
As for Tom Keane, he has been given the nickname “King Tom” among employees and is known for abusive behaviour, according to the report. Sources also say he is a “golden boy” at Microsoft. Allegations include him cutting people “down to pieces”, and reducing people to tears.
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