On Monday, Microsoft said it will offer voluntary buyouts to qualified employees in select parts of the company. CNBC reports that the payouts will be offered to about 60,000 employees, or about a quarter of its global workforce. The company described the offer as an opportunity for employees who may have already considered career moves outside of Microsoft. While Microsoft did not give an immediate reason for the buyout package, it comes as the company has spent the past few years managing costs with investments in AI infrastructure and data center construction.
Microsoft will extend the Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) to qualified employees in the US, India, Canada and the UK. Microsoft employees at level 70 or below will be eligible for the buyout program. The company’s employee rankings are internal, but according to the salary and career database Levels.fyi, levels 65–67 correspond to principal positions, and 68–70 are at the partner/different level. According to Chief People Officer Amy Coleman, eligible organizations were selected “based on the priorities of each business, customer commitments and work needs.”
The effort is the second time Microsoft has made a voluntary reduction in the workforce in 2026. In April, the company offered its first voluntary retirement package to 8,750 US employees. In July, the Xbox division laid off 3,200 employees, or about 20 percent of its entire gaming division. As reported by CNBC, about 30 percent of eligible employees accepted the retirement offer, which lessened the impact of the planned layoffs, according to Coleman. While the offer went out in April to longtime employees who may be nearing the end of their careers, VEO is expanding the effort to a much larger potential pool.