Microsoft Offers Voluntary Buyouts to About 60,000 Staff
The offer goes to employees at vice president level or below in four countries. Those who accept leave on Dec. 31 with benefits similar to a standard severance package.
Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to more than a quarter of its staff, around 60,000 people. Deadline reports the move is meant to offset the cost of spending on AI and data centers. The company has a total workforce of about 223,000.
The offer goes to employees at the vice president level or below in the U.S., Canada, India and the U.K. The Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance divisions could be affected.
Terms and timing
Staff who accept get benefits similar to a standard severance package. They have until early December to decide, and anyone who takes the offer would leave on Dec. 31. Microsoft reports quarterly earnings on Wednesday.
Amy Coleman, the company's executive vice president and chief people officer, described the plan in a memo to employees posted on Microsoft's blog. "The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we're evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter," she wrote. She added that it builds on what the company learned earlier this year from its Voluntary Retirement Program.
Follows an earlier program
That program was Microsoft's first voluntary retirement offer. It went to around 7% of U.S. employees, or 8,700 people, at the senior director level and below. About 30% of those eligible took the buyout.
Deadline says the company apparently heard from others who might have accepted if they had been eligible, so the new offer gives them another chance. The outlet notes that between 3% and 5% of employees offered buyouts in the tech sector usually take them.
Source: Deadline