Microsoft Offers Mass Buyouts For Roughly a Quarter of Its Workforce (seattletimes.com) 138
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Seattle Times: Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees, or roughly a quarter of its workforce, as the company tries to control its head count while avoiding layoffs. The Redmond-based tech giant announced Monday morning that eligible employees at the vice president level and below in the U.S., Canada, India and the United Kingdom would receive a "voluntary exit offer" of a standard severance package, based on their location.
In a memo to employees, Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said the move was building off the voluntary retirement program earlier this year, which was available to more than 8,700 U.S.-based employees, roughly one-third of whom took the offer. Since May 2025, Microsoft has been trying to reduce its corporate workforce, first through waves of mass layoffs and now through more creative buyout programs. The company laid off about 15,000 employees last year over the course of several months, affecting about 3,200 Washington-based workers. The report notes that the layoffs have continued this year, though on a smaller scale and largely concentrated in the company's gaming division.
In a memo to employees, Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said the move was building off the voluntary retirement program earlier this year, which was available to more than 8,700 U.S.-based employees, roughly one-third of whom took the offer. Since May 2025, Microsoft has been trying to reduce its corporate workforce, first through waves of mass layoffs and now through more creative buyout programs. The company laid off about 15,000 employees last year over the course of several months, affecting about 3,200 Washington-based workers. The report notes that the layoffs have continued this year, though on a smaller scale and largely concentrated in the company's gaming division.
Sounds better than a surprise layoff email (Score:3)
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees
voluntary retirement program
Well, sounds better than a surprise layoff email.
Re:Sounds better than a surprise layoff email (Score:5, Informative)
Microsoft is offering buyouts to about 60,000 employees voluntary retirement program
Well, sounds better than a surprise layoff email.
This is a "the cat is on the roof" email. The layoff email(s) will come later if the number of the employees that accept the offer is lower than what Microsoft decides is necessary.
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This is a "the cat is on the roof" email. The layoff email(s) will come later if the number of the employees that accept the offer is lower than what Microsoft decides is necessary.
True, but if you are not in the final round of layoffs you tend to still get a good severance package. The good severance package helps reduce the panic among the surviving employees.
Re: Sounds better than a surprise layoff email (Score:2)
Speaking from experience, this is the order of business.
Re: Sounds better than a surprise layoff email (Score:5, Insightful)
In 2025 Microsoft filed 6,258 H-1B approvals and 3,157 PERM filings. They claim only foreigners can do the work they need. Meanwhile they seek to layoff 60,000 employees.
The H-1B and PERM programs are just a way to lower American wages via pseudo indentured servants who can't leave and pay them less than prevailing wages.
If you say you really need a foreign worker, price it by paying at least 75% more than the real prevailing wage, not your fake study. Or better still, how about a minimum of GDP per Capita * 4 = $380,848. If you're offering them that I believe you sincerely can't find anyone qualified domestically. But you're going to be giving rasises maintaining at least that ratio.
And the employer may change jobs at will and keep their visa.
Congress can clean up loopholes? (Score:2)
In 2025 Microsoft filed 6,258 H-1B approvals and 3,157 PERM filings. They claim only foreigners can do the work they need. Meanwhile they seek to layoff 60,000 employees.
If any of the 6,258 H-1B are doing similar jobs to those in the 60,000 layoffs there should be a federal investigation. That would seem to be a literal violation of the statues of the H-1B legislation. H1-B is supposed to be about UNIQUE individuals that are not common in the US workforce. Someone that did interesting research in grad school, or otherwise sets themselves apart intellectually, for example.
And the employer may change jobs at will and keep their visa.
Certainly against the spirit of the H1-B legislation, if not an actual violation. Perhaps Congress could
Re: Congress can clean up loopholes? (Score:2)
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Other US companies are opening phone centers in the phillipines so they have an american rather than british sound.
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Up 32% Year over year from 2024.
I'd take it (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd use it to get a degree in an AI proof industry, like dental hygienist. Nursing kind of sucks these days because of AI and healthcare business. Other AI proof industries might be aromatherapy and massage. Can't even go into a nice peaceful job of driving a garbage truck, robotics are going to end growth in that industry in a few years.
It's an interesting formula MS has though. Age + years of employment >= 70. But I'm not sure how much they are actually paying. Probably a formula of years of employment each get a fractional multiplier on base salary.
Re:I'd take it (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd use it to get a degree in an AI proof industry, like dental hygienist.
Or, depending on how things go, you might be able to become a contractor MS hires.
This is essentially what happened to my neighbour, who was an IBM employee for 30 years when in the 90s IBM decided to downsize by offering buyouts. He took it (good severance), and then less than a year later ended up contracting for the exact position he had because IBM was now short staffed due to how many people opted into the buyouts.
He ended up with about the same or higher pay as a contractor as I recall.
Re:I'd take it (Score:4, Interesting)
"He ended up with about the same or higher pay as a contractor as I recall."
Are you including health care and retirement benefits in that higher pay?
Re:I'd take it (Score:5, Funny)
"He ended up with about the same or higher pay as a contractor as I recall."
Are you including health care and retirement benefits in that higher pay?
You're assuming these were out of pocket costs borne by the user, as happens in the United Shitholes of America (new official name, because the rest of the world can rename things too!)
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Only for contractors, and that's the choice you make becoming one.
I work for a large multinational and had a lovely package that didn't cost me a dime...until, oh yeah, it was President OBAMA who fucked that up by determining that nice health plans were now taxable in his Socialist Paradise Vision.
So of course, companies stopped offering them. Now that's government working for the people.
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Your jealousy of America is showing.
Yeah, "jealous". Ok boomer.
Oh, and.... (Score:2)
you seek to bash the country that made all of the technology you used to leave the comment
I'm not bashing England.
(P.S. because you've already proven yourself to be clueless and you didn't understand what I meant just now: the ARM architecture you're referring to was created by Acorn Computers, originally from England in the U.K.)
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Given the low levels of education in America, your confusion of it with China is understandable, as they've both become authoritarian countries.
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Higher pay automatically means better retirement benefits in the civilized world. And healthcare isn't part of pay. It's something everyone gets, because people shouldn't live in fear of their life for trivial illnesses.
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
The wealthy are going to try to eliminate everyone else, period. It will come to some places before others but they would truly like to get rid of most of us because they are fucking idiots who think they're geniuses. By the time they figure out they need us, it will be too late, but that's no consolation to the masses they will attempt to remove from the planet.
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It really depends on time lines. They could "sunset" the human species with some sort of virus that makes us infertile. We won't die overnight, but without new births it won't take long for the collapse to happen.
The rich of course will already have the vaccine, along with their ai robotics.
It's scary because this is entirely possible.
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Re: I'd take it (Score:5, Informative)
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
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Robocop can handle a prison or two. ;)
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
No, it couldn't. It could be a steady one for a while, though.
Whose gonna hire them? (Score:2)
Blue collar guys don't hire other blue collar guys to do jobs they can do themselves, you need white collar guys to keep them employed or you need government infrastructure programs.
We already did away with the latter and now we're killing the former
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We don't build anything but data centers and that's a one time bonanza at best.
There's steady data center construction work in Northern Virginia. The workers mostly have out of state tags and fill my local commuter parking lot by 7:00am and get bussed to whatever data center they're building that month.
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do the bus horn sound "bring out your dead"
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They look like prison buses.
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Also I didn't bring it up but it is telling that most of the plates are out of state...
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Most of the complaining about data centers seems to be more hate the rich, with AI the current boogeyman for that.
Are you saying we are not justified in our malcontent towards the assholes in charge when they have been more then forward with their intent to replace us all with AI and robots?
Sure, it's a lot of marketing bullshit as it's not remotely capable of all that, and yet, look how quickly frontier models have advanced with programming and media generation? Not only are the models getting better, but they are becoming more efficient. You can turn out some pretty awesome stuff with just an 8gb video card. 16gb eve
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"they have been more then forward with their intent to replace us all with AI and robots"
Citations needed. Focus on the word 'all'.
I get the anger towards technology displacing human workers with no apparent plan to re-employ them elsewhere. But this is just the latest in a series of such revolutions. AI isn't replacing plumbers any time soon. Unless the AI can direct robots to manufacture housing with preassembling utilities, but that's a fantasy away from happening.
I was repairing desktop calculators for
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"Never" is a really long time.
It could mean 2028 easy enough.
Perpetual trade school may be future. (Score:3)
Never say "never". Future forecasts of the past got most things wrong, at least in terms of timing. I never thought I'd see AI comparable to the TOS Trek's monotone computers in my lifetime. I would have bet against it at about 20 to 1 odds. (It's the computer that goes, "Working...")
Perhaps one can make a reasonable guess for about one decade away, but beyond that is just too foggy. Perpetual trade school may be the future, as bots nibble away at different careers.
You might NOT take it though.... (Score:2)
One of the things people keep overlooking with skilled trades is the physical labor required. I know quite a few people with an I.T. career they're in largely because they have physical issues or limitations (bad back, for example) and it's not realistic for them to just hop over to a skilled trade like a plumber, where they're going to have to crawl under cabinets or into crawlspaces under porches all day long.
If you're still young, absolutely. It's not a bad time to consider a skilled trade to make a good
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"One of the things people keep overlooking with skilled trades is the physical labor required"
after the dotcom meltdown, i worked for a homebuilder for a few years as there was a boom in the housing market.
terrible decision for a guy already in his 40s, spent a lot of money on physio and was glad to get back into IT
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Even for the young, pretty soon they're not so young with fucked up bodies and needing drugs (often illegal) to keep being productive. If your lucky, have the skills and such, you might move to a less demanding part of the job, estimator. inspector etc but those are limited.
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And dont pay anywhere close to what they were making.
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And when those are the only jobs, the wages will be driven down to nothing when everyone knows how to do those jobs.
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
Robots absolutely will get those welding jobs eventually. They will just get all of the easier ones first.
They don't have to (Score:3)
Re: They don't have to (Score:3)
Your comment is what's ignorant. Those flux core guys are some of the hardest to automate away because they are out in the field fixing stuff that's broken right now. The easy welding jobs to automate are ones done on assembly lines. Most of that is already done by machine, but not all of it, so that's what's getting automated next. After that it will be stuff like pipelines, where you have a huge number of similar welds to do. Getting down to the more ad hoc jobs will take longer.
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actually they rise because lowest 20% welding jobs are done by ignorant people just sputtering snot with chinese MIG kit.
Hey that sounds like my welding!
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Right now you would. But remote sites and various kinds of such yards are prime targets for automation and remote controlled operation. Even if it costs more, the consistence in quality is worth it. And for remote sites, it allows keeping a worker onsite who can immediately fix any issues, by remote control and/or automation.
Re: I'd take it (Score:2)
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In the long term being a dental hygienist (in the USA) is going to suck just as much as being a nurse at a corporate hospital. The same PE firms that destroyed our large clinics and hospitals are buying up the dental practices and turning them into scam machines that sell people fillings for cavities that don’t exist. Give it ten years and dental hygienists will be working six days a week for less than what Buc-ee's pays.
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I'd use it to get a degree in an AI proof industry, like dental hygienist.
Oh, for sure, those treatments which reverse cavities and build up enamel will not affect your new career at all.
Take the money and run! (Score:3)
When corporations do this it's usually the first step in a major overhaul. The last to go will not get treated so politely, they'll be kicked out.
Quick bit of context (Score:5, Informative)
An article says:
>Employees at internal levels 64 and below received one week of base pay per six months of service, for example, and employees at levels 65 to 67 will receive two weeks of base pay per six months of service, according to offers reviewed by Business Insider.
Within MSFT, here's what those "levels" mean for software dev positions:
68-70: Partner & Above [entirely different comp structure; limited quota]
65-67: Principal
63-64: Senior
61-62: Engineer 2
59-60: Engineer
When I left in 2022, you unofficially had a limited amount of time to make it to the senior band. The "up or out" philosophy very much applied to junior engineers; if you didn't have the potential to make senior engineer (because you hadn't made it yet after x years), you were managed out.
People who made it to Principal could park their careers at the principal level and stay there indefinitely, so long as they were providing good results (but were still subject to random layoffs not based on their own performance)
The VEOs and other "voluntary" downsizing plans have been targeting older, higher-level folks. Yes, those folks are more expensive. They are also more male, more American, and more white.
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more American
IOW, can't just let the H1-B expire and return them.
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none of that silly Enlightenment bullshite.
Caste system?
Perhaps we need our own Cockroach Party.
Tldr (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:"Management or Bust" is Stooopid! (Score:4, Informative)
>I find this very stupid.
I agree with you.
>Some people are good, reliable, and experienced "worker bees" who either don't want to be in management or are not qualified for it. I see no logical reason to get rid of such people, do you?
Agree completely.
>I'm not sure if "Sr. Engineer" means quasi-management at MS
It doesn't.
The people manager track and individual track are separate tracks, and both go all the way to the top. There were hundreds of Partner Software Engineers who didn't have any people management responsibilities. These engineers, because they were Partner level, had a minimum of $1m total comp some years. (The higher your level at MS, the more of your pay at MS is contingent: bonuses, stock, etc. MS has a "low" guaranteed salary and a wild bonus/stock award range, all based on your performance and overall company performance)
There are level 70 people who are not people managers; the job title changes to "Distinguished Engineer" somewhere up there, and somewhere past that becomes "Technical Fellow".
There is a level floor for being a manager; but (effectively) there is no level ceiling for being an individual software engineer.
IIRC, When I left, they wanted people to be Senior level before being people managers. But there were more senior level engineers than senior engineering managers...
Here's some quick lingo: an "M1" is a manager who only has engineers reporting to him. An M2 is a "manager of managers", e.g. an M2 has M1s that report to him - and may have 1 or 2 engineers engineers or support staff. There are also M3s, but M1 vs M2 is the main useful cutline.
MS generally wants an M1 to have at least 5 people reporting to him, but not more than 15. So the "span" is pretty narrow; MS R&D is pretty management heavy, with an M1 typically having around 8 people or so.
(I was an M1 for a few years, then went back to being a normal engineer with no people management responsibilities.)
Being an M1 at Microsoft is kind of a dual mandate: you are given a staff of engineers to go work on a problem that is (was?) too big for one person. The M1 has engineering & product responsibilities (e.g. make sure the right thing gets built on time and works correctly). The M1 also has people management responsibilities (coaching people in their careers, rewards and promo justifications, delivering bad news, etc)
Good M1s wrote code and reviewed code, but also burnt a lot of time in meetings ("what are the other parts of the company that are near me doing?") and individual meetings ("i have 8 people who report to me and I need to have a dedicated meeting with each of them every week to see how they are doing, give them career feedback, etc)
M2s rarely wrote code. They would occasionally write code for some demo or prototype, and then show it to people. If the idea had legs it would get spun off to underlings to flesh it out.
I say all this in past tense because I don't think how it was in 2022 necessary holds in Oct 2026. I know that I am not developing software or managing software engineers the same way now as I was even at the beginning of 2026. AI has changed all of it.
The crackpipe of subscriptions (Score:4, Funny)
They though Office subscriptions would bring them infinite growth, but the crackheads in Microsoft management need more to get the same high, so they're cutting headcounts to make their numbers look good.
Remember when Sears was a thing?
Whoa ! Wait a minute... (Score:3)
Sears produced some good quality-for-price handtools (Craftsman) back in the day. Quality is not the first thing that comes to mind with MS. Ever.
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Quality is not the first thing that comes to mind with MS. Ever.
Hey now, Word 5.1a was pretty good. So was Multiplan
(smiley face)
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Sears tires used to be very good as well.
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Would you rather have Lotus Notes?
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I would rather have Lotus Agenda.
This is standard recession layoffs (Score:2)
We put in Orange pedophile in charge of the country. Bad things are going to hap
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SaaS is helping as everyone moves to an OS agnostic delivery platform too.
Just had a thought and looked at software installations on PCs - exclude Microsoft, inventory and security agents, the biggest player is Adobe (which is fast becoming su
This always seems bass-ackwards (Score:5, Insightful)
The people who will quickly jump on this will largely be their best employees - the ones who are confident they can walk into another job. But I'm sure the company knows this, so it must be part of the plan somehow.
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In another company, the employee could *apply* for the voluntary exit, but management reserved the right to decline to accept in 'special circumstances'.
There was a lot of pressure to accept of course, but they did cover the scenario of making sure they can keep someone if they thought they could not afford it.
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Maybe in past years that would have been true, but currently we seem to be in a stagnant job market. People aren't leaving their jobs and people aren't getting new jobs. So beware leaving your job. You could have a hard time, even if you excel in your field. I doubt very many have a job they can just walk into.
It's cover for age discrimination (Score:2)
That is still significant layoffs clearly indicating we are in a recession. But it's not the insanity of laying off a quarter of your staff.
So what they're doing is they are targeting older employees but they know they're going to get sued and they've been sued several times for targeting older employees and lost.
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Speaking as an older employee (not at Microsoft though) - I suspect it will probably work. I mean, a lot of the older employees will realize what's going on and feel hurt and/or angry, but they'll also figure "it's not an awful offer and I don't know that I have the energy for a years-long lawsuit".
Fortunately I haven't had to deal with anything close to that scale of importance, but over the past several years I have found myself in certain situations doing those mental calculations... "do I really want to
The end of a business model (Score:2)
Hiring programmers to develop software, marketing, selling, supporting - it's all over I think. MS has decided that the future is AI-powered in all respects. We'll see how that works out for them.
The end of a (short) era. Hey, we did OK, no?
Re: The end of a business model (Score:2)
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Hopefully. I think the chances for that are pretty good.
No Need, We are Moving to Linux, They to AI (Score:2)
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Re: No Need, We are Moving to Linux, They to AI (Score:2)
The OS for consumers is the same as the OS for business, just with some functionality turned off (and it can be turned back on, though it's not obvious or supported.) And the one thing supports the other. With less home use there will be less business use.
From "We Stand by Our People" to "Leave" in a Week (Score:5, Informative)
The move comes less than a week after Microsoft President Brad Smith proclaimed 'We stand by our people. We always have. We always will.' [linkedin.com] (a response to a government investigation into layoffs and the use of foreign workers [geekwire.com] at the company).
Re: From "We Stand by Our People" to "Leave" in a (Score:2)
AI’s Impact on Team Size (Score:2)
AI isn't replacing programmers, it's multiplying their output. By automating routine work, single developers can accomplish significantly more, driving down the team size needed for a project. This shift is just the opening chapter for the industry.
Re: AI’s Impact on Team Size (Score:2)
Go Full Communist (Score:2)
This is how it begins (Score:3)
In order for AI to take over development tasks, they need to be fed prompts. That's a job that requires some skill, but not like writing code does.
The day will come (actually has come) where AI will make it's own decisions about what needs doing and how. Then no humans in the loop at all. Things will change around us, but we won't know why.
Initially, it will seem like change for the better, but will it always remain so?
Sorry for the doom and gloom. I see light at the end of the tunnel, but it could be an oncoming train.
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In order for AI to take over development tasks, they need to be fed prompts. That's a job that requires some skill, but not like writing code does.
There are solid indicators that say writing software via prompt takes quite a bit more skill than doing it directly. At least if your software should be secure, maintainable and usable. Of course, Microslop is aiming for neither of these qualities...
Should consider it. (Score:2)
The terms of offers like this are usually sweeter than an exit package. And with there being an involuntary exit waiting in the wings for some folks, it becomes a gamble to remain.
A couple things to note. First, there's probably a bit of wiggle room in the offer. Not a lot, but a little. But while you could lawyer up with a layoff package, you can't with a voluntary one. But if you asked them to sweeten it 5% you may find a yes.
Second, a voluntary exit is easier to finesse in your history.
I took a voluntar
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Fun fact (Score:4, Interesting)
Severance deals are better outside of the United States where they are regulated by statute. In the United States, this isn't the case, and most severance deals either require signing a strict NDA, or training your replacements. It used to be that severances were given in exchange for you indemnifying the company from any legal action due to a loss on your part.
Not only but you could also be limited to only working outside of your field by noncompete agreements in the severance or what you signed previously depending on your state of residence. Some states are have very loose restrictions on noncompete agreements. Some states ban them outright.
Re: Fun fact (Score:2)
Fun fact: unlike many simple states, the U.S. has 51 completely different sets of state laws, and in some of those states, severance and unenforceability of NDAs is the law.
Re: Fun fact (Score:2)
Their replacements will be AI and they are already getting trained
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From the continued enshittification of their products, I thought MS was already doing everything with "AI"?
Eventually, what? (Score:2)
Will the employee base at companies like Microsoft eventually consist of a bunch of AI agents? With the General Counsel being the sole human, retained for legal purposes?
what does msft know that we don't? (Score:2)
considering that msft itself isn't as heavily invested/exposed in the ai buildout so when it bursts, they're more protected than most tech firms these days... financials look good/healthy... stock looks good.... short term projections look good (into 2027)... slashing 25% of the workforce is definitely a choice.
Only thing that makes sense to me is that they're isoalting geographical regions and will operate in a more isolated/segmented geographically manner to comply with laws/regulations and shield from ge
Makes sense (Score:2)
Microsoft has no employees left that know how to make a quality product anyways.
Re:Fire me (Score:5, Informative)
Weekly, that's $4.7k vs $1.2k. Total, that's $184k vs 31k.
I can guarantee nobody smart enough to be an engineer at Microsoft (as much as we might make fun of their culture and products) is dumb enough to fail that one-question math exam.
Re:Fire me (Score:4, Insightful)
The key is that either way, the severance is the same. When my company last did a voluntary buyout, it was more than the standard severance to sweeten the pot. If it is equal to severance, then people would be inclined to stick it out unless they *really* were looking to leave anyway.
If you stick it out, you get normal pay until the layoffs actually happen, and if you are so unlucky to be out of work for over 39 weeks, then you can start the UI checks to get that once the severance 'runs out'.
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Re: Fire me (Score:2)
California and many other states also enforce severance when layoffs are of a certain size.
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I don't know about your state, but in Colorado it is not considered severance by the state if the terms of it prevent you from discussing it or include an NDA. And even if it is considered severance, it just delays the amount of time until you receive benefits, it does not replace them.
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i sent him money via PayPal for quite a few years
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Microsoft has made sure they are fundamentally incapable of hiring competent people. It is not compatible with their business model.