Microsoft is offering buyouts to around 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its global workforce, and India is one of just four countries where the offer applies. Chief people officer Amy Coleman announced the Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) in a memo to staff on Monday, pitching it as a way for employees already weighing a future outside the company to leave now, with financial support and career planning help.The terms mirror Microsoft’s standard severance. Eligible employees in the US, Canada, the UK and India at level 70 and below, a band that stretches up to general managers and some vice presidents, have until the first week of December to decide. Those who accept will exit at the end of the year. Unlike the retirement buyout Microsoft ran earlier this year, there is no age or tenure requirement, and performance plays no part.
Microsoft buyout eligibility depends on the team, not the employee
Not everyone at level 70 or below will get the email. Microsoft has left it to business leaders to decide whether their groups take part, and Coleman’s memo says participation depends on each unit’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.Staff in AI experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows + Devices, Xbox, finance and human resources are eligible, according to people familiar with the matter. Cloud + AI, Microsoft AI and the corporate, external and legal affairs group are participating partially. Sales, marketing, commercial business, discovery and quantum, and security teams are not part of the offer at all. Xbox, which took the biggest hit in July’s layoffs, is back on the list.
Microsoft’s buyout can pay up to 39 weeks of salary but skips extended healthcare
When Microsoft laid off US employees earlier this year, that severance meant at least 60 days of base pay while staying on the payroll, and for most people up to 39 weeks of base pay based on seniority and tenure. Employees at internal levels 64 and below got one week of base pay for every six months of service. Levels 65 to 67 got two weeks.The VEO also includes continued stock vesting, healthcare for a fixed period and career transition services. What it leaves out is the extended healthcare that drew long-serving staff to the spring retirement offer. Each eligible employee, including those in India, gets their individual terms by email.
This is Microsoft’s second buyout of 2026, after months of layoffs
In spring, Microsoft ran its first-ever Voluntary Retirement Program for roughly 8,750 US employees at senior director level and below whose age plus years of service added up to at least 70. About 30% took it, and the company booked a $900 million charge for it in its April earnings report.Those exits shrank the layoffs that followed. Microsoft cut 4,800 jobs in July, about 2% of its workforce, with Xbox and commercial sales hit hardest, and let go of hundreds more in September. That came after more than 15,000 job cuts in 2025. Headcount stood at 223,000 on June 30, down from 228,000 a year earlier, and that figure predates the July cuts.This time, the company expects far fewer takers, since the offer is no longer aimed at people close to retirement.
Microsoft says the buyouts are not a replacement for layoffs
A company spokesperson said the offer does not mean Microsoft needs fewer people, calling it one of several ways to adjust to changing business needs. Layoffs remain an option depending on business conditions. Like its Big Tech peers, Microsoft is under pressure to keep operating costs in check while it pours tens of billions of dollars into data centres and AI infrastructure.There are no plans for another buyout right now, the spokesperson said, though an internal HR note says Microsoft may consider a future exit offer where there is a business and workforce need. In July, Coleman had said the company was studying whether voluntary exits could become a regular, possibly annual, fixture.The first hint of what this round will cost may come on Wednesday, when Microsoft reports quarterly earnings. As Coleman put it in her memo, “The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We’ll learn from it.”
Read Amy Coleman’s full memo to Microsoft employees
Introducing a Voluntary Exit OfferToday, we’re introducing a new Voluntary Exit Offer (VEO) to eligible employees within participating organizations. This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support. It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.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. This builds on what we learned earlier this year through the Voluntary Retirement Program.What employees should knowThis offer will be available to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below. This is a time-limited, voluntary program that gives those who are eligible the opportunity to leave Microsoft with financial support and career planning resources. Some organizations are providing the Voluntary Exit Offer, and some are not. Participation varies based on each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.Eligible employees will receive an email with a link to their Voluntary Exit Offer details within the next few hours.Looking aheadThe Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We’ll learn from it. 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. These are a few of the ways we’re trying to meet different business needs while continuing to create opportunities for our own people to grow and contribute.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.Amy