Why Microsoft Employees May Flee To Amazon In Droves
Microsoft employees may be fleeing to Amazon in droves over the utter discontent they are currently experiencing at the tech giant.
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For the most part, Microsoft upholds a better working environment than Amazon does. Microsoft hasn’t had extensive problems with worker harassment or complications following COVID-19 protocol. On the other hand, Amazon is currently being investigated for its unsatisfactory job handling workers’ rights and providing a safe working environment. Though Amazon had had ample press about their abysmal warehouses, the company may take on new employees leaving Microsoft due to insufficient raises.
Microsoft promised its employees significant raises this year. But the estimated percentage longtime workers would get from this raise does not meet many of the employees’ standards. September 15th, the day this new raise would be implemented into worker paychecks, may lead to an exodus of Microsoft employees to its competitors like Amazon.
The raises Microsoft employees are intended to get will only be a 5% to 10% increase from their previous paychecks. Many workers who’ve been at the company for years are displeased with this outcome, noting that they could make more at similar tech companies. Employees refer to the climbing rate of inflation to justify their disapproval. With the cost of living rising higher every month, it’s fair for workers to need better monetary benefits for the amount of work they do. Unfortunately, since Microsoft promised a substantial change to their paychecks, a 5% increase not only baffled employees but could galvanize them to leave the company for good.
Though Microsoft is a powerful and innovative tech company, the recent press has shed a negative light on its inner workings. This week, not only did the news break about Microsoft’s underwhelming raise, but a hack accidentally perpetrated by Microsoft employees simultaneously occurred. Multiple individuals employed at the company leaked vital logins to Microsoft’s infrastructure. The tech company runs its internal systems through GitHub, an internet hosting service for software development. This offers an easy gateway for hackers into Microsoft’s private systems. The company recently released a statement confirming the leak and intends to take every course of action to reconcile the situation.
Mossab Hussein, the chief security officer at the cybersecurity firm spiderSilk, which initially found the issue, detailed the Microsoft leak and the corresponding evidence. Hussein provided seven examples of logins that were leaked by Microsoft employees. Each one was able to successfully enter Microsoft’s cloud service called Azure. The logins could expose the Microsoft employees who accidentally leaked them by the tenant ID attached. Each tenant ID corresponds with a specific Microsoft worker, which enabled Hussein to identify the culprits accordingly.
Microsoft refused to comment on what the logins were protecting. What is known is that the passwords exposed could allow an attacker to gain access to one internal system, then move throughout the system to find more classified information.
Companies have plenty to deal with in this current economic climate. Microsoft, though internationally successful, has had a whirlwind of difficulties to keep up with just in the past week. As many longtime employees threaten to leave the company for good, Microsoft must figure out how to retain its staff while reconciling with the potentially dangerous login exposure.
