The newly installed boss of Microsoft has come under strong criticism after he allegedly said that women do not need to ask for pay rises, but they should rely on “karma” instead.
The controversial comments were made by the head CEO Satya Nadella whilst he was speaking in Arizona at an event for women in computing.
It is understood that Mr Nadella was asked to give his advice to women who are uncomfortable requesting a salary raise. Mr Nadella’s responded by saying that women should have faith that the system will give them the right raises as they go along. Mr Nadella said: “It’s not really about asking for the raise, but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along,” Mr Nadella told the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing. “Because that’s good karma… It’ll come back because somebody’s going to know that’s the kind of person that I want to trust.”
The somewhat controversial comments made by India-born Mr Nadella, sparked a mass amount of criticism on social media.
With most taking to Twitter to voice their disgust at Mr Nadella’s comments. One woman wrote “Truly horrified that Satya Nadella could tell women at Grace Hopper not to ask for raises,”
“Wow Microsoft, That’s a new low for you,” Isik Mater tweeted in response.
However Several hours after his comments, Mr Nadella tried to repair the damage on Twitter by saying.”Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise,” he tweeted. “Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias.”
A short time later Microsoft posted an all-staff memo from the CEO on its website. Within the memo it read, Mr Nadella said he answered the question posed by interviewee Maria Klawe “completely wrong”. “Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programmes at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap,”. “I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. “And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.”
It is believed that Mr Nadella’s sexist remarks at the Grace Hopper conference could have the potential to harm both sales of Microsoft products and the appeal for female tech workers in Silicon Valley to work for the IT giant.
It is understood that of more than 100,000 employees at Microsoft, only 29% are female, according to data released by the firm recently.
The controversy comes just days after reports of a declining relationship between the companies founder Bill Gates and its former CEO Steve Ballmer.