Microsoft employees accuse executives of decades of verbal abuse and misconduct

Dozens of Microsoft employees have come forward to accuse executives of the company of verbal abuse and misconduct, with some reports dating back decades, according to a recent report from Insider.

The report says that employees at Microsoft have accused executives Alex Kipman, Tom Keane, and Terry Myerson of verbal abuse and misconduct. Kipman is a technical fellow and Keane is a VP and head of product and engineering. Myerson worked at Microsoft for over two decades before leaving in 2018.

The employees, according to the report, alleged that Kipman created a culture at Microsoft that diminished the contributions of women, and that he even allegedly watched VR pornography during a meeting. The report also says that Keane would allegedly “cut people down to pieces,” even pausing a meeting to reprimand an employee to the point that she began crying.

Myerson’s departure in 2018 was allegedly due to a public incident where he berated staff attending a company event. He allegedly had a track record of verbally abusing employees during his time with the company.

The employees in the report claim that CEO Satya Nadella would only get involved for something “seriously egregious,” and that the trio of executives largely received no reprimand for their actions. Kipman has reportedly received “dozens” of allegations.

Additionally, one employee compared Microsoft’s initiatives to bring in more diversity to “tokenism,” saying that tons of interviews are only done to “check a minority box” and are a waste of time.

This report comes out as Microsoft is still in the lengthy process of acquiring Activision Blizzard, a game development studio with its own track record of reported abuse and misconduct.