Microsoft lets 60,000 staff decide for themselves whether to leave

On 26 October Microsoft opened a Voluntary Exit Offer to about 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of the 223,000 full-time staff it reported at the end of June. Amy Coleman, executive vice-president and chief people officer, set out the program in a note to staff that the company published on its official blog the same day.

The offer is open to “eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States at level 70 and below”, the note says. Level 70 is the vice-president tier of Microsoft’s internal ranking, according to KUOW. The program was first reported by Business Insider, and Microsoft confirmed the 60,000 figure to TechCrunch and Reuters. Eligible staff were told they would receive an email with their offer details within hours.

Microsoft says the terms are similar to its standard severance, which varies by market. KUOW reports that the package typically includes base pay for a period set by tenure, stock options granted over time, health care and career planning services. Coleman’s note describes it as a “time-limited, voluntary program” that lets those eligible leave “with financial support and career planning resources”.

In a redundancy round, managers choose the roles that go. Here each organization’s leaders choose who is eligible, and the employees choose who leaves. Microsoft gets a smaller payroll with less of the disruption of compulsory cuts, but it gives up control over which skills walk out of the door.

Who chooses who leaves

Coleman presents the program as a choice for staff and a tool for the organizations taking part. “This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” she wrote. “It also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs.”

Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance are among the groups taking part, TechCrunch reported, citing Bloomberg. KUOW reports that eligibility was set by the head of each organization, and that the sales organization, some corporate services such as marketing and some engineering teams are not participating.

“Some organizations are providing the Voluntary Exit Offer, and some are not,” the note says. “Participation varies based on each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.”

What the retirement round showed

The offer is the second of its kind at Microsoft this year. Earlier in 2026 the company ran a Voluntary Retirement Program for longer-serving staff at level 67 and below. More than 30% of the roughly 8,750 eligible employees accepted, TechCrunch reported, citing Bloomberg. Coleman’s note says the new offer “builds on what we learned earlier this year through the Voluntary Retirement Program”.

Microsoft anticipates lower take-up this time, KUOW reports, partly because the retirement offer carried more generous terms. At the retirement program’s rate of 30%, an eligible pool of 60,000 would mean about 18,000 departures, so the numbers involved are large even if the rate falls well short of that.

Coleman’s note sets no target for the number of exits and describes the program as something the company will learn from. “The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We’ll learn from it,” she wrote. “There is no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee.”

Cost cuts beside record spending

The offer arrives two days before Microsoft reports its first-quarter results on 28 October, and as the company forecasts capital spending of $175bn (£131bn) for calendar 2026, according to Reuters. A Microsoft spokesperson said AI is not driving the buyouts, KUOW reports.

Coleman’s note places the program inside a wider shift at Microsoft. It says the 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”. The note also says the company will help people “find new opportunities across Microsoft” where it makes sense.

What changes beyond Microsoft

Microsoft has run two voluntary programs in a single year. An employer of 223,000 is now using self-selected exits alongside compulsory cuts, which gives other technology employers a large, public test case for the approach.

Whoever accepts will leave with severance and experience from groups such as Windows, Copilot, Xbox and finance, in four countries at once. For the mid-market companies that hire from Microsoft, the supply of people with that background depends on decisions 60,000 employees are now making, not on a list drawn up by Microsoft’s managers.

Microsoft has handed a quarter of its workforce a decision its managers normally make. The number who say yes, against a company forecast of fewer takers than the 30% who took early retirement, will show how far an employer of 223,000 can reshape itself by invitation.