Microsoft employees were already expecting lacklustre pay rises as their dear leader CEO Satya Nadella warned of salary freezes and cuts to the bonus budget.

However, staff wanted to know how the budget cuts have impacted their performance review and if the cuts had not been in place if they would have got more cash.

Now it seems that according to leaked guidance, managers are being ordered to dodge such questions in the name of “company culture.”

"It's natural for employees to ask questions about the budget given the decisions shared in Satya's email. However, it's most important to focus discussions with direct reports on their impact for the past fiscal year and directly tie it to their rewards."

The guide said that managers should not use the budget cuts as an "explanation" for compensation decisions for individual employees and instead should emphasise that the employee's own "impact" determines "rewards."

"Using budgets or factors besides the employee's impact as an explanation for an employee's rewards will erode trust and confidence within your team. Reinforce that every year offers a unique opportunity for impact, and we increase our high expectations, regardless of our budget."

The fact the guide was leaked shows how miffed the staff at Redmond Vole Hill are about the declining transparency at the outfit which will probably do a lot more to erode trust and confidence within teams