Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 staff in India, US, UK, Canada

Microsoft offers buyouts to 60,000 employees across India, US, UK, and Canada

Washington, October 26

In an internal memo sent to employees on Monday, Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer at Microsoft, announced the introduction of the Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) for eligible staff within participating organisations. The buyout program is aimed at employees at level 70 and below who are considering a future outside the company.

"Today, we're introducing a new Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) to eligible employees within participating organisations. This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support," Coleman stated in the communication. "It also gives participating organisations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs."

The 60,000-person rollout across key global hubs in India, the US, UK, and Canada follows earlier efforts by Microsoft to streamline its organisation, building upon insights gained from its "Voluntary Retirement Program" launched earlier in the year.

According to Coleman, the buyout offer will provide departing employees with financial compensation packages alongside dedicated career planning resources. However, the company stressed that the buyout scheme will not be applied universally across all internal teams, with availability dictated by operational demands.

"Some organisations are providing the Voluntary Exit Offer, and some are not. Participation varies based on each business's priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs," Coleman noted, informing staff that eligible individuals would receive emails containing specific offer details.

Addressing the broader strategic shift represented by the massive buyout offer, Coleman acknowledged that the program is a novel initiative for the company as it seeks to meet shifting business demands while providing flexibility for its workforce.

"The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We'll learn from it," Coleman wrote. "At the same time, we'll keep helping people focus on the work that matters most, build new skills and, where it makes sense, find new opportunities across Microsoft. There is no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee."

Reaffirming her commitment to transparency throughout the rollout of the voluntary buyout process, Coleman concluded: "My promise is to continue to provide clarity, listen and learn and keep improving. Thank you for everything you continue to do for our customers, Microsoft and for one another."

Earlier in July, Microsoft announced the elimination of approximately 4,800 roles, representing about 2.1% of its global workforce, as part of a strategic realignment to focus investments on high-priority sectors in a fast-evolving technological landscape.

The cuts, which took place in July as part of the company's annual realignment, primarily targeted Microsoft's Commercial and Xbox organisations. Within the commercial business, the restructuring was built upon initiatives to embed engineering experts closer to enterprise customers to accelerate technology deployments.

Meanwhile, the Xbox division underwent a major structural overhaul to position the gaming business for long-term operational success.

To mitigate the impact of downsizing, Microsoft highlighted alternative transition strategies, noting that over the past year, the company successfully redeployed more than 4,000 employees into new roles. Additionally, management transitioned four gaming studios to new operating structures to preserve intellectual property and ongoing projects, while over 30% of eligible employees participated in a prior voluntary retirement program.

For employees directly affected by the workforce reduction, Microsoft pledged financial support, career resources, and dedicated assistance to help navigate their transition to new opportunities.

This comes after US Vice President JD Vance announced that Microsoft and seven other companies would be barred from seeking green cards for skilled foreign workers amid an investigation into alleged visa fraud.

Microsoft had earlier defended its hiring practices in a statement issued on October 8, saying the vast majority of its US employees were Americans. The company said that of approximately 6,000 H-1B applications submitted in the previous fiscal year, 80 per cent were intended to extend or change the status of existing employees.

The controversy coincided with Trump's presentation of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella, an Indian-origin executive who previously held an H-1B visa.

While criticising the immigration crackdown, Smith praised the administration's efforts to address AI safety, including export controls imposed on Anthropic's AI models.

— ANI