Microsoft and employment: the good, the bad, and the ugly

Last month, Microsoft started its mass layoffs, with as many as 5,000 employees being dropped over the next year and a half. Never in the company's history has Microsoft's workforce been watched as closely as it is now, and the economic downturn is largely to blame. Here's a quick roundup of what has happened this year so far.

The good

This month CEO Steve Ballmer announced that Microsoft would continue to invest $9 billion+ a year in Research & Development. That in itself shows that the software giant is committed to innovating in order to stay on top of the game, but that's not all the company has to do in order to survive.

In a press release yesterday, Microsoft announced an initiative dubbed "Elevate America," which over the next three years aims "to broaden access to job opportunities through information technology education and training" for up to 2 million people. Elevate America is Microsoft's response to the current economic crisis and thus requires that the company partner with state and local governments to bring the information to the people. Florida, New York, and Washington will be the first states to provide Elevate America to their residents.

That's for later, but the other mode of accessing the resources is already available—the initiative also includes a website at Microsoft.com/ElevateAmerica, which is divided into four sections full of resources and training programs helping those looking for jobs requiring technical skills understand what they need: Get the Basics, Expand Your Skills, Builds Your IT Career, and Create Your Future Career. More than half of today's jobs require some form of tech skills, and the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that will reach 77 percent in the next decade. Of course, the site is mainly about using Microsoft applications, but it also offers general information, like how to write a solid résumé.

The bad

As Seattle Tech Report and TechFlash covered this past weekend, in January Microsoft only increased its work force by 115 employees (to 95,943). This indicates that, while Microsoft's workforce is still growing, the pace of hiring continues to slow: in December the number of Microsoft employees increased by 164, and in November it was up 380. Add the fact that the 1,400 positions Microsoft eliminated on January 22 are still technically on Microsoft's payroll for 60 days, and the numbers look even worse.

The ugly

Also this weekend, CNET confirmed leaked pictures of a letter Microsoft sent to laid off employees asking them to give back some of the severance they had been given: "This letter is to inform you that an inadvertent administrative error occurred that resulted in an overpayment in severance pay by Microsoft. We ask that you repay the overpayment and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience to you." It's not clear why the administrative error occurred, or how much money exactly was given out by accident (the numbers are blacked out in the leaked images). Either way, this is quite a public relations disaster for Microsoft; apparently the accounting department forgot to contact the PR department before sending out the letters.

Update

CNet has now udpated the story with a note that Microsoft has backtracked and will allow employees to keep the extra cash.