Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its workforce

Microsoft announced a Voluntary Exit Offer in a memo to employees on October 26. The company told GeekWire that about 60,000 people in participating teams are eligible, roughly a quarter of its 223,000-person workforce. The offer covers employees in the US, Canada, the UK and India up to level 70 on Microsoft’s internal scale. That includes general managers and some employees with vice president titles, but not corporate vice presidents. There is no age, tenure or performance requirement.

Per GeekWire, the package matches Microsoft’s standard severance: base pay tied to tenure and level, continued stock vesting, healthcare for a fixed period and career transition services. Employees have until the first week of December to decide. The sales organization, some engineering groups and corporate functions are not participating. CBS News, citing Bloomberg, said data center staff are also excluded. Chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote that the offer gives participating organizations “another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.”

In the spring, Microsoft ran its first-ever voluntary retirement program. About 30% of the roughly 8,750 eligible US employees accepted, and the company took a $900 million charge. It cut 4,800 jobs in July. Microsoft says the new offer does not replace layoffs and expects a much smaller share to accept this time. According to CBS News, Microsoft expects to spend $175 billion on AI infrastructure in 2026. The company reports quarterly earnings on October 28.