That's the verdict of one of Australia's top professors of employment relations, Marian Baird, on the comments of Microsoft's CEO.

And if I was a Microsoft shareholder, that chief executive officer would be answering some hard questions right now.

Satya Nadella, the new CEO, said on Thursday that women who don't ask for raises have a "superpower because that's good karma, that'll come back".

And in that one thoughtless moment, Nadella destroyed any karma he had. In a society where women don't ask for payrises, where they earn less for the same work, where women's participation drops dramatically because of workplace inflexibility, this CEO proves he is out of date – but worse, out of touch with the community and with the women he employs.

Why is it, you could ask, that he isn't giving the same advice to men? Why not get everyone on the karma train? Is he seriously advocating that equal pay will come to those who stand and wait?

Lean out, sisters. This generous benefactor will make sure you get what you deserve.

What makes these ignorant comments so much worse was that Nadella made them during Women At Microsoft Week, which turns out to be, in this instance, not a celebration but a wake for women who earn less and always have; and are now being encouraged by their boss to inherit the earth.

Where did he make these comments? He chose the Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing at the Anita Borg Institute in Arizona where he went on to say:

"It's not really about asking for the raise but knowing and having faith that the system will actually give you the right raises as you go along."

Marian Baird, professor of employment relations at the University of Sydney, is frankly appalled and says Nadella shows an amazing lack of knowledge about the 'system'. He should know better.

"But maybe that's what we could expect from a male CEO who has probably always received higher pay than female peers."

That karmic goodness has always favoured men, says Baird. It's produced and reproduced gender pay gaps, gender leadership gaps and occupational segregation for years. And now we have a CEO asking us to take it on the chin.

Trust and karma don't work and will not work to fix the system. Baird's been through the data, all the studies, all those decades of research based on scientific principles and data analysis.

"It is incredibly ironic that a leader in charge of a global computer company should resort to reasoning based on karma," she says.

Didn't take long for Twitter to give Nadella the spanking he deserves. He tweeted back: "Was inarticulate re how women should ask for raise. Our industry must close gender pay gap so a raise is not needed because of a bias #GHC14"

The Women at Microsoft Facebook page asks: "What could a career at Microsoft mean for you? Get a unique insight into how women at Microsoft are helping to change the way we live, work and play."

But Women At Microsoft, skip the unique insight and act now. I know it's hard to take on the boss but now is your moment.

He has looked ignorant in public and is undoubtedly full of remorse.

Ask him to act immediately to eradicate pay gaps and promotion gaps in your company.

Get him to seek advice from the managing director of Microsoft here in Australia*, Pip Marlow, who is one of the Workplace Gender Equality Agency's Equal Pay Ambassadors.

At the launch of WGEA's equal pay campaign two weeks ago , Marlow said: "A country's national competitiveness is largely defined by its workforce so it makes no sense, especially for a country with Australia's small population, to limit or constrain the contribution of over 50% of its people.

Just as in business, we need to attract the best talent and retain the best talent so there is no room for gender bias in remuneration and performance management decisions. I call on all business leaders to commit to eliminating gender bias - it's just good business."

She could send that message to her CEO right now. He needs all the decent advice he can get. Plus he needs to know that karma doesn't pay bills or feed kids.

*I checked out how Microsoft Australia did on the WGEA's website. The company has apparently undertaken a gender remuneration gap analysis in the last 12 months but didn't have to take any action because no gaps were identified. I'd like to see that.

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