On Monday, Microsoft said it will offer voluntary buyouts to eligible employees in select parts of the company. CNBC reports that the buyouts will be offered to roughly 60,000 employees, or about a quarter of its global workforce.
Microsoft will extend the voluntary exit offer (VEO) to qualifying employees in the United States, India, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Microsoft employees at level 70 or below will be eligible. Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said eligible organizations were selected based on each business’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.
The effort is the second time Microsoft has run a voluntary workforce reduction in 2026. In April, the company offered its first voluntary retirement package to 8,750 US employees. In July, the Xbox division laid off 3,200 employees. About 30 percent of eligible employees accepted the April retirement offer.
While the offer in April went out to long-tenured employees, the VEO expands the effort to a much larger potential pool. Coleman said Microsoft was looking into making voluntary exits part of workforce management more regularly.
Eligible employees were to be contacted via email on Monday. Microsoft will announce its latest earnings after market close later this week.