Workforce Development Spotlight: LinkedIn and Microsoft Discuss How They’re Closing the Workplace Opportunity Gap
May 19, 2021
Workforce Development, Corporate Engagement
As we spread the message of the importance of mentoring in the workplace through our Workplace Equity Pledge, we’re spotlighting partners doing innovative and remarkable work in this arena. Here are thoughts from two of our largest partners in the workplace mentoring movement — Microsoft and LinkedIn. MENTOR has trained more than 1,400 Microsoft and LinkedIn employees on what it means to have a mentoring mindset in the workplace. Cammie Erickson, Director of Social Impact, LinkedIn, and Naria Santa Lucia, General Manager, Digital Inclusion and U.S. Community Engagement, Microsoft Philanthropies talk with MENTOR’s Senior Director of External Affairs Matt Meyersohn about the companies’ social impact and philanthropic priorities.
Matt: Let’s start with your current social impact and philanthropic priorities and how they relate to workplace development.
Naria: The main focus of our digital inclusion work at Microsoft Philanthropies is ensuring those who are excluded from the digital economy have the skills they need to secure a job or livelihood.
Cammie: At LinkedIn, our vision is to support job seekers across the world. Our signature program is LinkedIn Coaches – a partnership with nonprofits, companies, LinkedIn members, and LinkedIn employees to deliver training and career conversations with job seekers and youth facing barriers.
Matt: Cammie, can you tell us more about the Network Gap work that LinkedIn is leading and how it relates to MENTOR?
Cammie: Research shows that where people grow up, go to school, and work can give them up to a 12x advantage in getting access to opportunities. For a few years now, we’ve been focused on helping young people build their social capital and close this network gap. MENTOR has been a key partner in this initiative, going back to our 2018 “Network Gap Summit” where they moderated a panel and hosted a mentoring networking event.
Matt: Naria, what was the impetus for starting the Microsoft Mentors initiative and what are some of your goals with the program?
Naria: Microsoft was looking for other things we could bring to the table to support the workforce beyond financial backing. LinkedIn’s Coaches program inspired us to create the Microsoft Mentors program. In the summer of 2020, we joined forces with MENTOR to train our employees to be mentors and connect with young people pursuing careers in technology.
There are four prongs: getting knowledge about in-demand fields, getting pathways to jobs, getting access to certifications, and then getting connected to a job.
Mentorship is the critical to the first step to getting knowledge about in-demand fields. If I don’t have anyone in my network, then I can’t know what the in-demand jobs are. But if I have a mentor, I can get connected to a pathway and skill up. But I need that connection. At the end of the day, we don’t currently have a world where people are hired for skills. Too often it’s about pedigree and who you know. This is all about how we can bring that social capital to those who need it.
Matt: More than 1,400 Microsoft and LinkedIn employees have been trained through MENTOR’s Connect|Focus|Grow: Leveraging the Power of Relationships training. What has made this training a priority?
Naria: It nests really well with Microsoft’s history of giving back. Going back to Bill Gates, giving has been a critical part of Microsoft’s culture. Our employees are always asking, “How can I give back?” And one answer is to mentor, but a lot of people are terrified to mentor. This is a low-risk way to get people started with mentoring in the workplace. And people are realizing they are giving back, but they are also gaining. It’s been a really fun partnership to launch, because people are so hungry for it.
Cammie: We’ve been so excited to scale this training to Microsoft’s massive employee base, and we’ve received a lot of feedback from employees who want to get involved longer term and want even more competence in having conversations with job seekers. The events of the past year have brought the importance of diversity in the workplace to the forefront, and this training helps people open up their networks. Overall, it has received such positive feedback with our employees.
Matt: This campaign is about taking a Workplace Equity Pledge. We want employers and individual employees to step up and be a part of the solution to bring equity to the workplace. What are your thoughts about bringing awareness to employees in this way?
Cammie: I’m so excited to see this campaign. In the next year, LinkedIn is doubling down on our focus to help drive more equitable outcomes for our millions of members and customers. This pledge is super-aligned with that focus. We want to elevate it and get the word out to create more equity.
Naria: 100% agree – what I love about it is that it’s at a personal level. It’s a vehicle for people to say, “I’m in, and I’m not only going to do the personal work, but also work within the ecosystem of my company.” It is in service to our bottom line, because it’s about finding out who has been excluded from the economy – women, Black and LatinX individuals, anyone who does not have social capital – and helping those who have been included to open doors for those who have not. I can’t wait to see the impact.
Matt: What are you most proud in the work you have done with workforce development?
Cammie: Number one is our Coaches program. We’re so proud that participants are two and a half times more likely to build a strong network on LinkedIn than other members. It’s been extraordinary to see the impact that the trainings and sessions have had with young people who face barriers. The second thing we’re really proud of is that we’ve reached over 1.2 million job seekers, and that number is accelerating.
Naria: We’re really proud of Microsoft’s Career Connector. It’s a new service that will help place 50,000 job seekers skilled by Microsoft’s nonprofit and learning partners in tech-enabled jobs in the Microsoft ecosystem in the next three years. Its specific focus is on women and underrepresented minorities in technology, and the mentoring component is huge. It will start in the U.S. and then go to global markets.
Matt: What’s the next hurdle? What are you most excited for that’s on the horizon?
Naria: I’m most excited for people to be hired based on the skills, knowledge, and ability that they have rather than their pedigree or who they know.
Cammie: I have to say the same thing – we’re so excited about the increased focus on skills-based hiring. There’s so much potential to benefit all the partners we work with.