Ashok Kuppusamy

Highlights: 

• Starting in March, we are adding the ability for people within organizations to share their pronouns in Microsoft 365. 
• For IT administrators, the feature is off by default and requires configuration to turn on. 
• For individual users, leveraging this feature is completely voluntary. 
• Later this year we will add further functionality. 

Driven by our inherently inclusive mission at Microsoft, we are committed to creating workplaces that empower everyone to achieve more. Today we’re pleased to extend that commitment by adding the ability for people within organizations to share their pronouns in Microsoft 365. In March, and rolling out over the following months, IT administrators will have the option to turn on this capability to empower employees to add their pronouns on their profile card in Microsoft 365. Later this year we will add further functionality that will allow users to add pronouns as part of their name shown inside a Teams meeting. 

There has been significant demand from our customers for additional capabilities to support personal expression, and at Microsoft we are also eager to make use of this feature within our own organization. This feature has many uses, but at its core, it creates the conditions to help prevent misgendering for transgender and nonbinary people. The impact of misgendering is well-documented; inclusive products and services are one critical element to supporting a culture where employees are respected and valued in the workplace. We are grateful to the engineering teams and working teams of internal and external experts, who have been so thoughtful in bringing this feature to market. 

When determining how best to implement this functionality, we were guided by our commitment to prioritize user safety. The unique challenges of building this out for a global, enterprise customer base required us to embrace our growth mindset, challenge our assumptions, and proceed with care. We evaluated the varied legal landscape globally, knowing that this is not a feature that can be used safely in all regions, company cultures or contexts. As a result, we made the intentional choice not to launch this sooner in order to design it in a way that would provide individuals with greater choice in usage. For IT administrators, the feature is off by default and requires configuration to turn on. For individual users working for organizations that have turned on the feature, adopting it is completely voluntary. The feature also allows individuals to determine use based on the situation by providing the option to update their pronouns in real-time.  

With new functionality comes support resources that organizations can leverage to learn more. We encourage IT administrators to engage their organization’s HR team as a key partner before turning on this functionality to ensure a full understanding of how local laws and organizational cultures can put transgender and nonbinary employees at risk, even when companies have the best of intentions.  

To learn more about this new feature in M365 visit https://aka.ms/M365PronounsUser. For IT administrators to learn more visit https://aka.ms/M365PronounsAdmin.  

At Microsoft, in addition to implementing this functionality, we remain committed to continuing to strengthen our culture of inclusion, evolving our organization, and striving to create psychological safety for transgender and nonbinary employees around the world. To learn more about how Microsoft is innovating for inclusion visit https://aka.ms/DIReport.