Microsoft offers voluntary exit packages, with about 60,000 employees eligible

As of 2:09 p.m. ET, Oct. 26, 2026

Microsoft on Monday introduced a "Voluntary Exit Offer" for eligible employees on participating teams, giving them the option to leave the company with financial support. About 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of the company's workforce, will be eligible, a Microsoft spokesperson told Business Insider.

The 60,000 figure is the number of people who can take the offer, not a number of job cuts. Microsoft has not said how many employees it expects to accept.

The offer is available to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below, Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said in a memo to employees that Microsoft also published on its official blog. "Some organizations are providing the Voluntary Exit Offer, and some are not," Coleman wrote. "The Voluntary Exit Offer reflects an important part of how we're evolving our approach to change: creating greater flexibility and, where possible, more ways for employees to shape their next chapter."

Level 70 includes senior leaders, and sales organizations, some engineering teams and some corporate functions are not participating, Business Insider reported. The spokesperson told AFP that some groups, including some employees working on data centers, sales and marketing, are excluded.

Eligible employees have until early December to decide whether to take the offer and leave at the end of the year, and the terms will be similar to Microsoft's standard severance, the spokesperson told Business Insider. There are no plans for another buyout at this time, the spokesperson said.

The offer follows Microsoft's Voluntary Retirement Program earlier this year, which Business Insider reported was offered to about 9,000 eligible employees based on age and tenure. Microsoft had 223,000 employees worldwide at the end of June, according to regulatory filings cited by AFP. The company is expected to report quarterly earnings later this week, AFP reported.