How this US tech titan is ploughing ahead on DEI

Microsoft says its Copilot artificial intelligence assistant not only increases productivity, but also boosts diversity and inclusion in workplaces.

Australia Post diversity and inclusion co-ordinator Anthony Moufarrege says Copilot’s popularity and use has soared within the postal service.

Microsoft says its Copilot artificial intelligence assistant cannot only increase productivity, but can boost diversity and inclusion in workplaces, with Australia Post and engineering firm GHD reaping the benefits.

Donald Trump has launched a crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in a whirlwind start to his second term with Google following suit, abandoning its policies which sought to hire workers from under-represented communities.

While not speaking about Mr Trump’s policies, Microsoft chief accessibility officer Jenny Lay Flurrie — who has been deaf most of her life — says products which enhance diversity and inclusion deliver big benefits.

Microsoft chief accessibility officer Jenny Lay Flurrie says Copilot has changed her ‘battery power’.

“It’s incredible how it’s changed my battery power, my energy in a day,” Ms Lay Flurrie told The Australian about the launch of Copilot, which is saving staff about 20 hours a month on average.

“We’re learning a lot about neurodiversity … that’s a relatively new term but it compiles a lot of different disabilities. It’s probably the biggest area of demographic growth in the globe right now.

“If you’ve got dyslexia, reading, comprehending, writing large documents takes additional cognitive load. It’s additional battery power and Copilot can do the work for you.”

About 1.3 billion people globally have disability and/or neurodivergence. An Ernst & Young survey found 91 per cent of workers with a disability believed Copilot was a “valuable assistive technology”, while 75 per cent said it helped them “thrive” in their jobs.

For Ms Lay Flurrie, this means Copilot can provide real-time captions on video calls to augment her sign language interpreter. For someone with attention deficit disorder, it can help filter messages and prioritise emails to help maintain focus.

“Having been in tech for 30 years and having built some methodologies, I’m used to writing notes and trying to sort of do this all day long, and it got to a point with me personally where a couple of years ago I was seeing doctors because my neck was struggling and it was this constant up, down motion that I was doing between my screen and my writing.”

Microsoft chairman and chief executive Satya Nadella launches Copilot+ PCs in Seattle last year.

Australia Post has introduced a workplace adjustment passport for employees — a document which they take when they move between departments, informing managers of their accessibility needs.

Ms Lay Flurrie praised the initiative.

“Where you identify and say, ‘hey, I’m deaf. I’m going to need captions’, say, whatever role they have, they carry this passport with them, and it just goes with them, as does their tech.

“They’ve got the core framework in place. They’re leveraging the cutting edge technology, and I think they’re approaching it in a brilliant way.”

Australia Post diversity and inclusion co-ordinator Anthony Moufarrege — who has cerebral palsy and dyslexia — said Copilot’s popularity has soared in the workplace. Australia Post now has about 3000 licences, up from 300 in October 2023.

“The main priority, from an accessibility point of view, is to get those licenses to individuals with a workplace adjustment that would ultimately succeed with Copilot,” he said.

“I use Copilot for my dyslexia. Copilot will allow me to do a proof check and a grammar check of my email before I send it. It saves me valuable time in my day.

“Another common example of how team members use Copilot with disability are the meeting transcripts. That saves our team members with a disability time. They can go to Copilot and get a meeting summary or maybe ask Copilot what they have missed in the meeting.”

Mr Moufarrege said it was a valuable tool to support an ageing workforce.

“It’s more common to get a disability when you get older, and tools like Copilot can help people stabilise their career and ultimately yet again succeed in their role.”

GHD chief technology officer Andrew Kaddatz.

GHD chief technology officer Andrew Kaddatz said the benefits of the technology were not confined to just accessibility.

“It’s obviously much more than that, but we also don’t want to pigeonhole it,” he said.

“The accessibility benefits are coming from two things: obviously the capabilities in the tool, but also the freedom that people have been allowed to experiment with the tool, so using it in each person’s own individual way.”

But, GHD principal geotechnical engineer Martin Griffin cautions that using AI shouldn’t diminish your identity at work, so that you suddenly sound or work like everyone else.

“When Copilot first became available I was cautious because as someone who has a disability and is autistic, I consider my different way of thinking as a superpower and what’s uniquely me that I bring to the team and to solving problems. So this concept of trying to ‘fix it’ with AI did not sit well with me — it needs to be about enhancing what we already bring,” Mr Griffin said.

“I am a visual thinker so I usually start with an image or mind map and build text around it. One use case that I’ve been finding interesting is using Copilot to convert PowerPoint content into word or vice versa, while quickly shortening or lengthening so it still works for how I think.“

Originally published as How this US tech titan is ploughing ahead on DEI