In the face of the crisis, Microsoft executives have taken decisive measures to ensure the safety of Microsoft employees in this virus crisis.
Editor’s note: This article comes from “Tencent Technology” , review / support Xi, reproduced with permission.
The new crown virus epidemic is spreading all over the world. Washington State has become one of the three most severe states in the United States. The state has the world’s largest software company and technology giant Microsoft Corporation, and its headquarters in Redmond, Seattle More than 40,000 people have been hired. According to the latest news from foreign media, in the face of the crisis, Microsoft executives have taken decisive measures to ensure the safety of Microsoft employees in this virus crisis.
According to foreign media reports, not long ago, Microsoft CEO Setia Nadella was relaxing at home after traveling in India and Indonesia. At this time, he began to see news tips about the new crown virus epidemic on his mobile phone. .
About 10 am on Saturday, February 29, local officials said a man in Kirkland, Washington (a dozen kilometers from Microsoft’s headquarters) had become the first person in the United States to have died of a new crown virus. Later, it was reported that more than 50 people in a nearby long-term care facility were also sick.
For Nadella, 52, the news is shocking to him personally. Nadella is considered by the outside world to reverse Microsoft’s declining business. His son has cerebral palsy, which weakens the child’s immune system.
“We basically have a nursing home at home,” Nadella said in an interview. “It shocked me because this is a real problem for many of us, as well as for our own community.”
Four days later, he and his executive team told tens of thousands of Microsoft employees in the Seattle area that they could work from home. Next, they “persisted” to let employees work from home, which made the software giant one of the first major employers in the United States to let employees work from home.
Over 40,000 employees usually work in Microsoft’s office parks every day. As of last weekend, that number had fallen below 5,000. Globally, the company requires employees to work from home if recommended by a local government health official (this is now the case in many countries).
The outspoken dialogue between Microsoft executives heralds what is happening inside the executives of large US companies. If the office is closed, can their business and technical infrastructure continue to operate? Bringing large groups together may contribute to the spread of the new crown virus. Does this public health risk outweigh any commercial discussion?
Professional sports leagues have cancelled their season nationwide. Airlines have cut staff and cut routes. The jubilant California Silicon Valley Technology Park has basically vacated.
First experience
Microsoft executives had foreseen it all two weeks ago. The company is headquartered in Redmond, Washington, across Lake Washington and Seattle. Microsoft executives and employees worked and lived near the first major new crown virus outbreak in the United States.
They saw for themselves what other people in the country will experience in the coming weeks. The number of local people infected with the virus is increasing. The street is empty. Schools in the Seattle area were closed for at least six weeks.
“You found the outbreak at a care centre and there are signs that it is actually spreading to Puget Sound,” said Kurt DelBene, a senior executive at Microsoft responsible for monitoring the response. “Since then, we have been meeting every day.”
Last week, Nadella, Del Bay, and three other Microsoft executives directly involved in the company’s decision-making interviews with an authoritative US media.
Other large companies in the Seattle area face similarly difficult choices. Before U.S. officials announced deaths related to the new crown virus, Amazon was one of the country’s first major companies to stop unnecessary domestic travel and set up a fund for infected casual workers and other contractors that transport packages. It also subsidizes small businesses that rely on passenger flow from headquarters staff to do business. Boeing, another Seattle giant, has been working hard to keep its production lines open, although several of its employees have tested positive for the new crown virus.
“We are dealing with the worst new crown virus outbreak nationwide,” said Dow Constantine, an official in King County, including Seattle, who called on employers on March 4 to encourage employees to work remotely. “Our actions are forming a model that will be replicated in other parts of the United States.”
Not just supply chain issues
Before the outbreak in Kirkland, Washington, the new crown virus was a major supply chain issue for Microsoft and related to Chinese factories that manufacture personal computers and Microsoft equipment. This caused enough disruption for the company that Microsoft told investors in late February that first-quarter sales would be lower than expected.
The situation changed on February 29. By 4 pm, Nadella and his leadership team were calling to try to figure out the news.
“It all happened in real time,” Nadella recalled during a recent video conference in his office.
He said that Microsoft’s sheer size meant that its decisions were beyond its scope. Actions are too hasty and may cause panic. But in a shrinking way, Microsoft can help the safety of the entire community, especially high-risk groups like his son.
On the phone, Microsoft President Brad Smith said he was concerned that the mysterious spread of the new crown virus could lead smart people without professional knowledge to make the wrong decision.
“I said,‘ thisIt ’s interesting, but none of us have a PhD in public health, ’” said Mr. Smith. “At the time, Colleen said,‘ well, you do n’t really know me, but I have a PhD in public health. ’”
Colleen Daly, an in-house expert dedicated to improving the health of Microsoft employees, was asked to join the talks. Nadella has never met Ms. Daly before, and never talked to her.
On a ski slope in Canada, she contacted someone she knew at the King County Health Department. She soon learned that the epidemic was concentrated in a nursing home.
“I can really help the senior leadership team understand the situation and reduce the alert slightly,” Daley said.
Having this expertise is priceless. “She can tell us all the facts and figures,” Nadella said. The company’s senior leadership decided to adhere to the guidance of the public health department.
That night, they sent a simple update email to employees: If they were sick, they should stay at home, and health officials haven’t shown any signs of the new crown virus spreading in the community.
A series of decisions
One day later, on Sunday, when officials announced the death of a second person and a quarter of Kirkland firefighters were quarantined because they had been to a nursing home, Microsoft leaders spoke with executives at other companies.
Amy Hood, Microsoft’s chief financial officer, talked to Luca Ma Siqun, Apple’s chief financial officer. Smith and others participated in an evening conference call with executives in the area organized by Challenge Seattle.
Challenge Seattle is a corporate group whose members employ more than 250,000 people locally. Executives promise to share their plans in advance so other companies can consider doing the same.
For the next few days, the Microsoft executive team will meet every night. Dai started each briefing with two slides, showing data on growth in viral infections and changes in public sector health advice.
A short time later, Amazon confirmed that an employee at its Seattle headquarters was infected with the virus, and two employees in Microsoft in the region tested positive. Smith spoke with Amazon’s general counsel David Zapolski, exchanging announcements they planned to make.
Microsoft has cut back on travel, stocked up equipment to allow more employees to work from home, and cancelled activities. Delbe sends employees an e-mail every day with the latest information.
Smith said that Microsoft has been notified in advance that local officials will recommend home work and other forms of social activities, such as telling people over 60 to stay at home on Wednesday, March 4. At the time, this was the strictest and most comprehensive response in the United States. It was then that Microsoft issued its own policy, and a large number of employees began to leave headquarters and go home to work.
Smith said that the next morning they realized the impact of this decision:The soft headquarters turned into a ghost town, which affected the 4,500 hourly (contractor) laborers who supported the logistics of the park. Hood decided to still pay their salaries, and Smith discussed the idea with other executives during a conference call challenging Seattle.
Smith said: “From the response to the phone, if we move quickly, we will provide air cover to other employers who are preparing to make similar decisions. Amy Hood and I said, ‘Well, let us Do it. ‘We talked with Satya (that is, Nadella). He said,’ Whatever the measures, do it. ‘” Then Microsoft executives wrote a blog post and posted it online 90 minutes later.
As work from home began, executives tracked the number of computer code changes that engineers submitted to the company—a measure of productivity. After most people experienced a small drop the first day they left the office, their pace rebounded.
Employees who have to enter the office area—monitoring the data center or performing certain network security tasks—still work in the company.
New crown virus continues to spread. On Wednesday afternoon, several major school districts in the area announced the closure of schools the next morning. Just after 10pm, Delbe sent an email to the employees. He said that if parents were unable to work from home because they needed to look after their children, they could get an extra two weeks of paid leave.
“This is a test and will continue to be a test,” Nadella said. “But, you know, we are working to overcome it.”