Will Karma Get You a Raise?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella created quite a stir at the recent Grace Hopper Celebration of Women In Computing when he suggested that women seeking a hike in pay should let karma bring them their rewards.
“It’s not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along. And that, I think, might be one of the additional superpowers that, quite frankly, women who don’t ask for raises have. Because that’s good karma. It’ll come back. Because somebody’s going to know: ‘That’s the kind of person that I want to trust. That’s the kind of person that I want to really give more responsibility to,’” Nadella said in response to a question from Maria Klawe, president of Harvey Mudd College and a Microsoft board member.
Blasted on Twitter and elsewhere, Nadella was soon backpedaling from his answer. “I answered that question completely wrong,” he said in an email to Microsoft employees. “Without a doubt I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap. I believe men and women should get equal pay for equal work. And when it comes to career advice on getting a raise when you think it’s deserved, Maria’s advice was the right advice. If you think you deserve a raise, you should just ask.”
No word yet on how many Microsoft employees asked for raises the next day. Hopefully karma is on their side.
Compiled and partly written by Indian humorist MELVIN DURAI, author of the novel Bala Takes the Plunge.
[Comments? Contributions? We would love to hear from you about Chai Time. If you have contributions, please email us at melvin@melvindurai.com. We welcome jokes, quotes, online clips and more.]
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