Microsoft is offering voluntary exit packages to about 60,000 employees in selected teams across the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and India. The offer covers eligible employees at internal job level 70 and below, providing financial support and career transition resources for those who choose to leave.
- Microsoft Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announces voluntary exit packages for sixty thousand employees across four international regions.
- The offer covers twenty-seven percent of Microsoft's 223,000-person global workforce across job levels up to level 70.
- The buyout follows five thousand layoffs in 2026 as Microsoft reallocates corporate capital toward artificial intelligence data center infrastructure.
Amy Coleman, Microsoft‘s executive vice president and chief people officer, announced the Voluntary Exit Offer in a memo to employees on Monday, Oct. 26. The company later published the memo on its blog. The eligible group represents roughly 27% of Microsoft’s 223,000 full-time employees as of June 30, 2026. The figure describes the potential pool of participants, not the number expected to depart.
Employees have until the first week of December to decide whether to accept the offer. Departures are scheduled for Dec. 31, according to GeekWire and CRN. Microsoft has not disclosed how many employees it expects to leave under the program.
Who Is Eligible for Microsoft’s Exit Offer?
The offer applies to employees at internal level 70 and below in participating organizations across the four countries. Eligibility is not automatic for everyone within those levels. Individual organizations determine participation according to business priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.
Microsoft’s internal level system reflects job seniority and responsibility. Level 70 includes general managers and some employees with vice president titles, but not corporate vice presidents, GeekWire reported. The company has not published a complete list of participating teams.
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→ Submit a Press ReleaseMicrosoft said the offer has no age or length-of-service requirement, and employee performance is not a factor. The sales organization is excluded, along with some engineering groups and corporate functions, according to GeekWire. Eligible employees were to receive an email with a link to their individual offer details within hours of the announcement.
Microsoft told GeekWire it expects a smaller proportion of eligible employees to accept the new offer than accepted its earlier voluntary retirement program, which drew roughly 30% participation.
What the Voluntary Exit Package Includes
Microsoft described the package as equivalent to its standard severance arrangements. Reported benefits include base pay based on job level and tenure, continued stock vesting, health care coverage for a fixed period and career transition services. The new offer does not include the extended health care coverage available under the earlier Voluntary Retirement Program, GeekWire reported.
Business Insider reviewed individual offer documents and reported that employees at internal levels 64 and below receive one week of base pay for every six months of service. Employees at levels 65 through 67 receive two weeks of base pay for every six months. Standard severance for employees at level 67 and below is capped at 39 weeks of base pay, according to the publication.
Business Insider separately reported that level 68 employees have a standard severance provision of 12 months of salary. Stock-vesting terms also vary. Employees at level 67 and below may receive six or 12 months of continued regular stock vesting, depending on their years of service, the publication reported. These details reflect the offer documents Business Insider reviewed, not a universal package with identical terms for every eligible employee. Individual offer documents set out the applicable conditions.
Microsoft has not disclosed the program’s total expected cost or announced a target number of departures.
Offer Follows Earlier Retirement Program and Layoffs
Microsoft introduced its Voluntary Retirement Program earlier in 2026, making about 8,750 US employees eligible based on age and length of service. Roughly 30% accepted, according to GeekWire. The new offer removes the earlier program’s age-and-service threshold and covers a larger potential pool of employees.
The latest initiative follows workforce reductions during the year. Microsoft cut about 4,800 jobs in July, followed by hundreds of additional reductions across the company in September, GeekWire reported. Microsoft has said layoffs will remain an option depending on business conditions, so the voluntary offer does not rule out further involuntary cuts.
Microsoft continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence infrastructure, including data centers. Coleman did not identify AI spending or automation as the reason for this specific offer. In her memo, she wrote that “there is no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee,” explaining that participation depends on each organization’s business priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.
Microsoft has not disclosed how many employees will accept the offer or how much the program will cost.
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