I'm not asking how things work. I'm asking you if you think that senior leadership at Microsoft were completely ignorant about complaints despite the class action lawsuit filed against them in 2015. Because you implied that if leadership knew, they would have probably taken action, and that HR can squash a lot of complaints before it gets to their level.
You are basically trying to defend the leadership as being ignorant of these issues, which I find hard to believe with a class action lawsuit having been filed against them previously.
No, they're not ignorant of something like a lawsuit. The whole company is going to be aware of that.
I said HR is tasked with taking corrective action for the company as whole and then they work across the organization to adopt any new policies, procedures, and process.
As for individual incidents, most companies have a policy to report to your direct manager and/or HR first. If you're not comfortable reporting to your direct manager then report to another manager or the next person up the ladder. In an organization with thousands of people there can be a lot between you and the leader of the organization.
Again, seems like some people either weren't comfortable reporting incidents to their manager or HR, or that direct managers and HR dropped the ball.
But again, all of this is based on the idea that leadership was unaware of the overall situation...which is wrong. Of course they were, they were just unable or unwilling to address it.
I'm lost. Outside of working with HR to identify the problem areas of the work culture and take corrective actions in terms of policies, communication, process, and individuals, what are you seeking?
If people aren't comfortable reporting incidents, that's something both leadership and HR need to work on, but this is one of those things were if nobody is saying anything then nobody is aware there's a problem.
If people are reporting incidents and they aren't being followed up correctly then that's something leadership and HR can work on.
If someone in leadership is directly involved in discrimination then that's something HR investigations can help identify and take corrective measures.