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By Cynthia L. Webb washingtonpost.com Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 26, 2004; 9:55 AM
It seems there's a minor revolt underway in Redmond after Microsoft Corp. announced last week that it will scale back employee benefit programs to cut costs. Among the perks scheduled for reduction are the prescription drug benefits and the employee discount stock purchase program.
"An informal poll conducted among employees on the Microsoft intranet, but not under the official auspices of the company, suggests a groundswell of opposition to the changes and an unusually strong wave of dissent in a place where employees are known for their allegiance to the corporate cause," The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported today. "Although the results don't reflect a scientific sample of the employee base, the poll had drawn nearly 3,000 responses as of yesterday, with more than 90 percent saying they were either dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with the company's decision to alter the terms of a program through which employees buy Microsoft stock at a discount."
The Seattle Times noted that the informal survey came from one Microsoft employee's Web site and featured anonymous postings. "Microsoft spokeswoman Tami Begasse said the survey had been taken down by yesterday afternoon, but she didn't know why." The worker who reportedly created the survey "referred calls yesterday to Microsoft's public-relations department, was not reprimanded or punished, [Begasse] said. 'We really do encourage employees to share this feedback,' she said. 'It's part of our DNA,'" the Times reported.
The Seattle Times asked: "Has the Kool-Aid at Microsoft gone bad?" And more: "[w]hen asked to post comments on the cuts Monday, many of workers railed against the company, its management and its policies. ... The comments were posted anonymously; as a result, they may not accurately reflect the overall employee sentiment. They do, however, give some insight into frustration, and possible declining morale, among Microsoft employees, generally a group that, at least in public, is so positive about the company that they are sometimes described as 'drinking the Kool-Aid.'"
• The Seattle Times: Microsoft Workers Vent Over Cuts In Benefits
The grumblings are surely music to the ears of WashTech, which stands for the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, a Seattle-based high-tech labor group that is an affiliate of the Communications Workers of America. The group wants Microsoft workers to unionize. Indeed, it is latching onto the worker discontent for its efforts: The union sent out a copy of the informal survey to the media yesterday, The Seattle Times said. "According to the survey, about 1,520 workers had responded by Monday afternoon. Of that total, 93 percent said they were either very dissatisfied or dissatisfied with the changes to the stock plan. Four percent said they were either very satisfied or satisfied; the rest gave no answer."
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer said the "poll is far from a complete census of Microsoft's employee base, which totals more than 56,000 people worldwide. And its voluntary nature may skew the results, attracting votes and comments from people with strong negative feelings about the changes. Even so, it's clear that the changes 'made a lot of employees very upset,'" WashTech president Marcus Courtney told the paper.
The tech worker union ran its own article yesterday on the benefit woes. The labor group said one unnamed employee wrote in the informal, employee-driven survey: "Personally, I think it is sad that a company with $50 billion in cash is trying to nickel-and-dime its employees for $60 million in savings. To me it seems like Microsoft is testing its employees to see how far it can push them…to breaking point."
WashTech's piece mentions a blog by Matt Goyer, a program manager in Microsoft's Windows Media Center division. But it doesn't cite this interesting take from Goyer, posted last Friday after Microsoft announced the benefit cuts. "I am all for running a lean mean business but we are talking about an organization with >$50 billion in the bank and 10.7 billion shares outstanding. I know every dollar counts but from informally what I've heard around the office I think that changing our ESPP will have a negative net effect. $80 million/10.7 billion shares = not enough savings to spur our stagnant share price into positive movement. Sure employees who are shareholders might see this $80 million cost savings as a net gain but only if they own MILLIONS of shares. Average employees will not benefit from these cost savings." Goyer wrote. "I'd much rather see them realize $80 million in cost savings by charging us for our pop, charging us cost on our lunches, triming [sic] our travel and entertainment budget, cutting back on our sports club membership, life insurance,... I'd understand them making these cuttings two or three years ago while the market was at all times low and there was a glut of unemployed talent, but with the economy recovering it is the wrong time to be cutting benefits when employees and potential hires are looking elsewhere for employment."
Some messages were posted in response to Goyer's musings, including one by WashTech's Courtney: "If Microsoft employees joined together by organizing it would end unilateral benefit cuts without first talking with employees. WashTech is the union for tech workers in Seattle."
