Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 Employees in Its Largest Program

Employees rushed to an internal website after the offer was announced to check whether they qualified, The New York Times reported. Some speculated that the volume of visitors had overwhelmed the site. Workers who spoke to the newspaper said the proposal added strain to an already tense relationship with leadership.

The company’s chief people officer, Amy Coleman, described the offer in an October memo as “a new choice” for eligible employees considering a future outside Microsoft. A spokesperson told Bloomberg that the benefits would be similar to those in standard severance packages. When Microsoft cut U.S. jobs earlier this year, severance guaranteed at least 60 days of base pay; for most employees, packages reached as much as 39 weeks, depending on level and length of service, Business Insider reported.

The buyout is available to selected teams in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and India. Some employees in data center, sales and marketing teams are excluded. Eligible workers have until the first week of December to decide, GeekWire reported, with departures scheduled for year-end, according to CNBC.

Microsoft said the offer does not mean it needs fewer workers, describing it as a way to adjust to shifting business priorities. The voluntary exit program is the company’s second buyout this year. If too few employees accept, layoffs could follow; career-transition executive Lindsay Witcher told CNBC in 2023 that buyouts are often “a precursor to layoffs.” Microsoft had about 223,000 employees at the end of June, a headcount that has remained relatively flat since 2022, when it began increasing spending on AI and data centers.