• Microsoft conducts an annual survey to see how employees feel about topics like pay and leadership.
  • Nearly 132,000 responded to the latest “MS Poll” survey, and Insider viewed the internal results.
  • Topics like “inclusion” and “work group health” fared better than “performance” and “deal.”

Microsoft employees in an internal companywide poll gave overwhelmingly positive responses to questions about inclusion and so-called “work group health” – a broad topic that includes work-life balance, career development, and similar matters – but less so about whether they were getting a “good deal” by working there, according to results viewed by Insider.

Microsoft conducts the annual survey, called “MS Poll,” to find out how employees feel about topics such as leadership, work-life balance, and compensation. The company did not respond to a request to confirm or comment on the results.

Nearly 132,000 of 149,000 eligible employees responded to this year’s poll, making for nearly 88% turnout, according to an internal document. The company sorts questions into categories and shares what percentage of employees answered favorably (usually either “agree” or “strongly agree”) to the questions in the category, and shares with employees how their teams and organizations responded to each topic relative to the company overall.

The category with the most favorable responses was the so-called “Inclusion Index,” which Microsoft defines in one document as “authenticity, belonging, belief in the commitment to diversity.” That category received 90% favorable responses companywide.

The categories with the fewest favorable responses are "performance" with 66% favorable responses and "deal" with 73% favorable responses. Microsoft doesn't define either of these categories in the results viewed by Insider, but "deal" appears to include a question that states, "I have a good deal at Microsoft (i.e. there is a reasonable balance between what I contribute to Microsoft and what I get in return)."

Last year, the MS Poll revealed employees were growing less satisfied with pay. At the time, 55% of employees surveyed said their combined salary, bonuses, and equity is competitive with similar jobs at other companies, according to sources, down from 57% in 2019, 61% in 2018, and 65% in 2017. The results viewed by Insider for the 2021 edition of MS Poll did not include companywide responses for any pay-specific questions.

Meanwhile, 84% of employees answered favorably to questions in the "Work Group Health Index," which Microsoft defines as career development, immediate manager, work group climate, and work-life flexibility. It's unclear how the pandemic-forced shift to remote work impacted the results because Microsoft changed what's included in the index.

Across the company, 81% of employees answered favorably to questions in the "Engagement Index," defined as enthusiasm, advocacy, intent to stay, and 79% of employees answered favorably to "Learning Index" questions about learning experiences and environment.

One category, the "Leadership Excellence Index," is administered only to high-level Microsoft employees, qualified as level 65 and above. Microsoft has a hierarchy of levels from 59 to 80, and level 65 is where the top tier of the company starts with the esteemed title of "principal."

A total of 77% of these employees responded positively to questions in this category, which Microsoft defines as "create clarity, generate energy, and deliver success." It's unclear exactly what goes into the category, but those are CEO Satya Nadella's leadership principles.