Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has been in the news for all the wrong things for the past couple weeks due to his comments about women in tech firms and why they should never ask for a raise.
The CEO obviously wants to put this all to bed and move on, but it won't be that easy since what he said earlier this month was completely insensitive.
A report that came out in early October claims that most women in tech get less pay when compared to their male counterparts, an issue that has been long known, yet nothing was ever done about it. According to the study, women earn $6,358 less than males, and women with at least a single child earn $11,247 less than males.
That's a huge problem, but it appears it is not one that women workers at Microsoft are facing. According to Nadella, both men and women at his company earn equal pay.
"I was insensitive to the broader context," says Nadella, following his tremendous gaffe. "It turns out that we are in good shape on that, but that doesn't really capture the essence... and that is equal opportunity."
"We have a lot more to do," Nadella said. "How do we get women to come back after they've taken a break?"
Nadella wouldn't go any further into the issue of payments and equality, as he was more concerned about talking about Azure and cloud technology in general. At the moment, the software giant believes that its Azure cloud technology is far superior to the likes of what Google and Amazon are offering, and the company is hell-bent on getting the word across.
Azure is a powerhouse, no doubt about it. The platform is used by over 80 percent of the fortune 500 companies, and it is the platform that makes Office 365 and Microsoft's web-based apps what they are today.
To put things into perspective on how powerful Azure has become, Microsoft is using it to power Xbox Live and all the dedicated servers that are available to developers where video games are concerned.
Since Nadella took office, he has been pushing Microsoft down the path of the cloud, and so far, it appears things are working out for the Redmond giant. We suggest that he focuses on what he does best, and stay away from the never-ending politics of equality.
