Hyderabad, 22nd April 2016: Microsoft India today hosted Confluence, its signature annual diversity and inclusion conference in Hyderabad. Confluence is a platform for employees to engage with the company’s leaders, industry experts, and public personalities, and discuss the power of diversity and inclusion in driving innovation, growth, and societal impact.
The day-long conference was attended by over 500 Microsoft employees from across India. Interactive workshops, panel discussions, and the many inspiring stories were the highlights of Confluence 2016. Successful public personalities Anjum Chopra, Captain, Indian Women’s Cricket team, and Shabana Azmi, eminent actor and social activist interacted with participants and shared work and life advice. The day’s discussions included deliberation on gender, generation, and ability-based biases and building a work culture that helps overcome any such bias.
Building a diverse and inclusive work environment is at the core of Microsoft’s new mission of empowering every individual and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Says Rohit Thakur, Head HR, Microsoft India, “We need the best minds on this planet to help us build technology that makes a positive difference in the world. And the best minds come from myriad backgrounds, different genders, age groups, and physical abilities. We welcome them all to our workplace and create an environment to help them do their best work. Confluence 2016 is a celebration of the power diversity and inclusion brings to Microsoft India.”
Star cricketer and former captain of the Indian women cricket team, Anjum Chopra, and veteran Bollywood actor and social activist Shabana Azmi also spoke at Confluence. Sharing their life stories, talking about turning points in their career and covering key moments in their lives – both speakers had inspiring conversations with the employees.
Six breakout sessions focused on the three pillars of diversity – gender, generational and abilities, engaging participants in theatre plays, simulation and gender sensitization workshops. “Let’s Not Talk about it!”, an interactive play with multiple stories that brought forth key aspects of an inclusive work place like gender equality, stereotyping, urging participants to ‘Start Talking About it “. “Antarchakshu” was an immersive workshop that gave participants an insight into the world of the visually impaired. “He F(or) She” – was a workshop held on gender sensitization and “Yuva Katha”, was an experiential workshop addressing generational work styles.
About Microsoft India
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) Microsoft is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 7,000 employees engaged in sales and marketing, research and development, and customer services & support across 10 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune.
