Microsoft is offering a voluntary exit program to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its staff, Taiwan's Liberty Times reported, citing the Central News Agency. Employees must decide by December.
According to the Liberty Times, Microsoft said it is offering the program to about 60,000 employees, around a quarter of its total headcount. CNBC, citing an unnamed source, said about 60,000 employees are eligible. Not everyone offered will leave, and the actual take-up has not been confirmed.
광고 문의 · 300×250A company spokesperson said employees at vice-president level and below in some teams in the US, Canada, India and the UK are eligible. Some data center, sales and marketing staff are excluded, and some marketing, sales and engineering teams have chosen not to take part. The details come from a Central News Agency report citing AFP and CNBC.
Timeline and how it differs from April
Employees must decide before the end of December, and those who accept will leave the company on December 31. Compensation terms were not mentioned in the report and could not be confirmed.
In April Microsoft launched the first voluntary retirement plan in its 51-year history, covering about 7 percent of US employees at senior director level and below. The new program extends eligibility up to vice-president level and beyond the United States.
Chief people officer Amy Coleman said in an internal memo that the program is meant to offer flexibility and choice and builds on the experience of the earlier voluntary plan this year. The report noted that Microsoft is investing heavily in AI and raising data center spending while seeking to cut costs.
The measure leaves the choice to employees rather than forcing layoffs. Still, with a quarter of the workforce eligible, the actual take-up could change the company's staffing structure considerably. Whether Microsoft will disclose the result is not yet known.