www.microsoft.com/canada

At the rate Sharif Khan drops the word ‘future’ into a conversation, one would think he’s a fortune teller. He’s not. Khan is the vice president of human resources for Microsoft Canada.  Which means much of his time today is spent anticipating the challenges of tomorrow.

Take flexible work arrangements, for instance.

“We’re trying to address that now because my prediction is that the demand for flexible working arrangements—and I’m talking specifically about part-time work, job share work—is going to increase over the course of time.”

Or the mature workforce.

“Recently we have been intrigued by that whole area of work and really see a direct connection in terms of what our future needs are. We’re going to have to become an environment that the older part of the workforce is going to want to work for because we’re going to need them. We’re going to need their skills. We’re going to need their experience. We’re going to need their work ethic.”

Or female employees.

“In our graduate recruitment strategy, we set much higher standards for how many women we expect to draw in because we feel that the earlier we get them, the more we’ll be able to retain them in the industry.”

Khan is definitely a man with a plan. A three-pronged plan, to be exact.  1. Attract the talent. 2. Develop their potential. 3. Create a culture of inclusion.

“The whole idea around all this is to make sure people feel Microsoft—Microsoft Canada, in particular—is a company they want to work for. Secondly, they feel it’s a place where they can …feel productive and grow within the organization,” he says and finally adds, “If we don’t make our environment inclusive to all kinds of work styles, then we’re going to lose out on the war for talent.”

Right now Microsoft is paying close attention to its female employee base. The harsh reality is the company feels it from both ends. There just aren’t enough young women taking, or sticking with, technology and computer sciences courses at university, and there are too many women leaving the workforce and not returning. For Khan, this is a real dilemma.

“It’s almost like ‘Stop the bleeding! How do we stop the bleeding?’…The attrition rates are a challenge and that’s where we need, we really, really need to create a flexible work environment,” he says. “If we can make it more attractive for them to want to return to work, then you can imagine the productivity gains and the cost gains…not having to hire new people and retrain them, etc.”

Whether it’s the people who work for them, or the people who buy their product, Microsoft’s mission is the same: to enable them to realize their full potential.

The Microsoft Corporation in the US set down roots in Canada back in 1985 and now has 10 regional offices across the country, besides its headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. Few people are unfamiliar with the Microsoft name. It’s synonymous with the computer technology. But that’s only half the story.