--- title: "Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce the door and calls it a choice" description: "About 60,000 staff in four countries have until early December to take standard severance and leave on December 31" author: "Jan Sokol" published: 2026-10-26T22:36:06Z modified: 2026-10-27T10:28:11Z url: https://rews.cc/a/microsoft-offers-a-quarter-of-its-workforce-the-door-and-cal-1fb3aa language: en tags: ["microsoft", "ai", "layoffs", "workforce", "infrastructure", "tech"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Microsoft offers a quarter of its workforce the door and calls it a choice *About 60,000 staff in four countries have until early December to take standard severance and leave on December 31* By Jan Sokol · October 26, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/microsoft-offers-a-quarter-of-its-workforce-the-door-and-cal-1fb3aa ## In brief - Microsoft is offering voluntary exits to about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of its approximately 223,000 staff - Eligible staff are at level 70 or below, up to some vice presidents, in the US, Canada, UK and India - Packages match standard severance; US minimum is eight weeks’ pay. Staff must accept by early December and leave Dec. 31 - About 30% took April’s retirement offer; Microsoft points to 3% to 5% uptake for similar programmes elsewhere - The cuts come as Microsoft spends heavily on AI data centers, including $41 billion of capex in the June quarter On Monday, 26 October, Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, sent employees a note offering roughly 60,000 of them a way out. [Fortune reported](https://fortune.com/2026/10/26/microsoft-offers-buyouts-to-nearly-30-of-workforce-in-ongoing-ai-shift/) that the company also published the memo on its blog. The scheme has an official name, the Voluntary Exit Offer, and an acronym, VEO, the way corporate measures do once they are meant to last. The number needs some context. At the end of June, Microsoft employed about 223,000 people, 5,000 fewer than a year before. Sixty thousand of 223,000 comes to about 27 percent. Fortune used that figure, and [Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/microsoft-offers-voluntary-buyouts-to-60000-employees/), citing CNBC, rounded it to a quarter. Either way, more than one employee in four now holds an invitation to leave. ## The vocabulary of departure Large institutions have always had trouble saying plainly that they want fewer people. So the memo talks about choice. > This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support. [As GeekWire reported](https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-makes-new-voluntary-exit-offer-to-more-than-a-quarter-of-its-workforce-including-some-execs/), Coleman also wrote that the offer “gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.” The first sentence is written for the employee and the second for the organisation. Microsoft gave no direct reason for the programme and described it as a chance for people who might already have been thinking about careers elsewhere. This is a reflection, not a fact from the record: a choice is a strange thing when the party offering it also sets the wages, the stock vesting and the next round of cuts. The worker who refuses still has to weigh what might come next. ## Who may go, and on what terms The offer covers qualifying staff in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India at internal level 70 or below. Microsoft does not publish its ladder. According to the salary database Levels.fyi, levels 65 to 67 are principal roles and 68 to 70 are partner or distinguished. Fortune reported that eligibility reaches senior leaders up to vice presidents. [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-10-26/microsoft-to-offer-buyouts-to-60-000-workers-in-latest-cost-cut), citing a company spokesperson, said some staff at vice-president level and below would qualify. GeekWire reported no age or tenure requirement. Not every part of the company is taking part. Coleman said organisations were chosen “based on each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.” A source told [CNBC](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/26/microsoft-msft-voluntary-buyouts.html) that some marketing, sales and engineering teams had decided to stay out. Severance depends on tenure, and the details vary with each country’s labour law. A spokesperson told Fortune the packages would match standard separation terms. In the United States that means at least eight weeks’ pay, continued stock vesting, health care and career services. Employees must accept by the first week of December, and those who do will leave on 31 December. ## Expected arithmetic This is Microsoft’s second voluntary reduction of 2026. In April it made its first-ever voluntary retirement offer, to 8,750 long-tenured US employees near the end of their careers. Coleman said about 30 percent accepted, which reduced the layoffs the company had planned. The new offer is far wider. It is also less generous: CNBC reported that it pays only standard severance. Asked how many people it expects to accept, the spokesperson pointed to other big tech companies with similar programmes, where 3 to 5 percent took the offer. Applied to 60,000, that would be between 1,800 and 3,000 people. A person familiar with the matter told CNBC the company has no participation target. Earlier cuts were not voluntary. Microsoft laid off more than 15,000 people in 2025. The July 2026 figures differ by outlet. Fortune counts about 4,800 jobs cut that month, mostly in the struggling Xbox unit, which it says has weighed on the company’s results. Ars Technica reports that the Xbox division alone laid off 3,200 people in July, about 20 percent of the gaming operation. ## Concrete and silicon Behind the memo are the data centers. Fortune reported $41 billion in capital spending for the quarter ending in June and a projection of $145.3 billion for the 2026 fiscal year. CNBC described the buyouts as part of Microsoft’s attempt to pay for a costly artificial-intelligence build-out while keeping capital spending efficient. The company is also changing how it earns money, increasingly charging customers by how much AI they use, which is the shift behind [Satya Nadella’s push to sell Microsoft by the token](https://rews.cc/a/satya-nadella-saved-microsoft-once-now-he-has-to-sell-it-by--d1ae94). Senior people are leaving too. Ryan Roslansky, an executive vice president who also ran LinkedIn, recently announced his departure, and so did chief communications officer Frank X. Shaw. Earlier in the year the gaming chief Phil Spencer retired, as did Rajesh Jha, executive vice president of experiences and devices. Fortune reported that as Nadella competes for enterprise and cloud AI customers, the company’s culture and leadership structure have changed with him. Other companies are doing the same. Google offered buyouts to selected employees in June. Amazon laid off about 30,000 workers between late 2025 and early this year and has since cut jobs in units such as Stores. A few weeks ago Electronic Arts [closed BioWare and cut 400 jobs](https://rews.cc/a/ea-shuts-down-bioware-and-cancels-next-mass-effect-as-it-cut-c954ae). Microsoft reports first-quarter earnings on Wednesday. Its shares have risen about 25 percent over the past six months. The 60,000 eligible employees have until the first week of December to decide. ## Sources - [Microsoft offers to buy out a quarter of its workforce](https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/10/microsoft-offers-voluntary-buyouts-to-60000-employees/) — Ars Technica - [Microsoft offers buyouts to nearly 30% of workforce in ongoing AI shift](https://fortune.com/2026/10/26/microsoft-offers-buyouts-to-nearly-30-of-workforce-in-ongoing-ai-shift/) — fortune.com