12386. HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT AT MICROSOFT. This paper presents a management report analyzing the human relations management issues, strategies and policies of software giant Microsoft Corporation. The report focuses on Microsoft's problems in employee recruiting, hiring and classification which are related to the highly competitive market for qualified high-technology employees, the company's needs to retain flexibility in hiring practices, and recent legal challenges to Microsoft's long-standing practice of relying on "contract" or "temporary" workers to fill part of its labor needs. KEYWORDS: hrm microsoft recruitment hiring employee classification temporary workers us software industry labor practices. 11 pages, 48 footnotes, 34 bibliographic sources.