Microsoft rolls out voluntary exit buyout to roughly 60,000 staff

Microsoft is introducing a Voluntary Exit Offer aimed at roughly 60,000 employees in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom, according to a memo from Chief People Officer Amy Coleman. The offer applies to staff at level 70 and below in participating teams, while sales units, some engineering groups and certain corporate functions are excluded. Recipients will receive an email later Monday outlining severance terms similar to those used in the company’s earlier layoff round, which provided a minimum of 60 days of base pay and up to 39 weeks depending on seniority.

Employees have until early December to decide, with any exits scheduled for year-end, and no further buyout rounds are planned at this time. The initiative follows a previous Voluntary Retirement Program that saw about one-third of eligible workers accept a buyout, helping Microsoft limit the scale of its recent workforce reductions after significant AI infrastructure investment.