Microsoft has unveiled a voluntary separation program targeting about 60,000 employees, a little more than a quarter of its global workforce. It is the largest program of its kind in the company’s history.
Who is eligible at Microsoft?
According to a source cited by Reuters, employees across a large part of the group are eligible, notably those working in AI experiences, Copilot, finance, human resources, Xbox, or Windows + Devices. Marketing, sales and security are excluded.
The offer is open to employees at level 70 and below, in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. It thus extends to the vice president level, whereas the April retirement program stopped at level 67 (senior director).
According to a person familiar with the matter cited by CNBC, certain marketing, sales and engineering teams have chosen not to participate. Employees will need to decide by early December, and those who accept will leave the company on December 31. Microsoft reportedly has not set a numeric target.
In a blog post, Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman notes that this scheme builds on the lessons from the voluntary retirement program. She also acknowledges that this is a novel move for the group: “We will learn from it.”
60,000 employees affected
This announcement follows several steps. In April, Microsoft unveiled its first voluntary retirement program, open to about 7% of its American employees. More than 30% of those eligible accepted it. The group would expect this time a markedly lower participation rate. In July, it announced the elimination of 4,800 positions (about 2.1% of its workforce), accompanied by a reorganization of its Xbox division and the possible sale of up to five studios.
Microsoft employed 223,000 full-time staff as of June 30, 2026, down 5,000 from the end of 2025.
These measures come as the group spends hundreds of billions of dollars on data centers and AI-dedicated chips. Investors are weighing the profitability of these expenditures. Microsoft has planned $175 billion in investments for fiscal year 2026. For the September quarter, capital expenditures are expected to exceed $50 billion, compared with $34.9 billion a year earlier.
The group provides cloud services to Anthropic, OpenAI and numerous other companies. It is trying to balance this expansion with financial discipline: in the latest quarter reported, its free cash flow remained positive at $19.64 billion (down 23% year over year), while Alphabet and Amazon posted negative cash flows. Microsoft is also reshaping its business model, seeking to bill customers according to their actual AI usage.
Microsoft will report its quarterly results on October 28 after the market closes.
