Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to as many as 60,000 employees in the US, UK, Canada, and India. The company says the offer gives eligible staff financial support and career planning resources as it seeks to reduce staffing without another round of layoffs.
Who can take part
The offer reaches employees across a range of Microsoft organizations, but participation varies by team. Employees in AI experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows + Devices, Xbox, finance, and human resources are eligible, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Some parts of cloud + AI, MicrosoftAI, and corporate, external, and legal affairs are included in part. Employees in marketing, commercial business, discovery and quantum, and security are excluded. The offer does not target commercial sales teams.
This uneven reach means the program is not a companywide invitation for every employee to leave. Team-level participation reflects differing business needs, while the overall offer gives many employees a choice about whether to depart with support.
A different kind of voluntary departure
Microsoft describes this as a new voluntary exit offer. Chief people officer Amy Coleman said employees who take it can leave with financial support and career planning resources. In her memo, she also said the company would continue helping employees focus on priority work, build skills, and find other roles within Microsoft where appropriate.
The offer differs from a voluntary retirement program the company made available earlier this year. That earlier program applied to around 9,000 employees in the US at a certain employee level, if their combined years of service and age totaled 70 or more.
Microsoft says the current offer is not based on age, length of service, or performance. It may consider another voluntary exit offer in the future if there is a business and workforce need. That leaves open the possibility of similar programs, while making clear that a future offer is not guaranteed.
Coming after job cuts
The buyout program follows Microsoft layoffs affecting 4,800 employees just months earlier. Those cuts primarily affected Xbox and commercial sales teams. The voluntary offer covers a different group: commercial sales teams are not included, even though some other parts of the company are.
There is also a separate report that Xbox CEO Asha Sharma is planning new rounds of layoffs. Together, the reported layoffs and voluntary exits show that employee changes are taking different forms across Microsoft. The source does not specify how many people the company expects to accept the buyout offer or whether any particular team will see reductions.
What the offer signals
A voluntary buyout gives eligible employees a path to leave with support, while giving the company a way to reduce headcount without requiring another round of layoffs. But the program's reach is limited by team eligibility, and the source does not provide details on the financial terms or timing for employees considering it.
Coleman acknowledged that the program is new for Microsoft and said the company would learn from it. She also emphasized that there is no single approach for every team or employee. The stated aim combines workforce changes with efforts to help employees grow and contribute within the company.
For now, the key facts are the potential scale of the offer, its presence across four countries, and its selective availability across Microsoft teams. Whether it becomes a significant route for employees to exit will depend on how many eligible workers choose to take it.