Microsoft lures Indian employees with cricket

To attract and retain the best and brightest Indian engineering talent, Microsoft has maintained a cricket program, a valuable tool in keeping the corporation’s biggest minority group happy, says a report by Reuters.

For the last 10 years, Microsoft has increased nearly four times its workforce, hiring a great number of computer science graduates from India who have remained in the United States after finishing graduate school. Indian employees estimate that they make up about 15% of Microsoft’s 35,000 workers.

"Our programs and policies have changed given the diversity that has come into the company," said Mylene Padolina, a senior diversity consultant at Microsoft.

In 2006, Microsoft opened two Indian food stalls inside the company’s cafeterias and also increased vegetarian options to suit Indian dietary needs. There has been an increase in the number of female employees working in Redmond, as well.