Microsoft Offers Voluntary Exit Packages in US, UK, India and Canada

Microsoft on Monday introduced a Voluntary Exit Offer that lets eligible employees in participating teams leave the company with financial support and career-planning help. The time-limited program covers employees at level 70 and below in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, Chief People Officer Amy Coleman told staff in a memo the company published.

The offer gives Microsoft's managers a new way to shrink or reshape teams without a formal layoff. Coleman said it also gives participating organizations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs. It is not company-wide: participation depends on each business's priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs, and some organizations are not offering it.

Eligible employees were to receive an email with the details of their offer within hours of the announcement.

The program expands on Microsoft's first buyout earlier this year. In April, Microsoft offered voluntary retirement buyouts to about 7% of its US workforce, or roughly 8,750 employees, the first such program in its 51-year history, CNBC reported, citing an internal memo. That offer was limited to US employees whose years of service plus age totaled 70 or more. The new offer reaches three more countries and has no stated age or tenure requirement. Coleman said it builds on what Microsoft learned from the retirement program.

The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We'll learn from it,

Coleman wrote.

Microsoft did not say how many employees are eligible, how much the packages are worth, how long employees have to decide, or which teams are participating. The memo does not mention artificial intelligence.

For comparison, the April program's terms were reported in detail. Eligible employees could receive between eight and 39 weeks of base salary depending on level and length of service, and Microsoft CFO Amy Hood said the support was expected to cost $900 million, according to GeekWire's reporting as summarized by TechRepublic. It is not yet known whether the new offer uses the same terms.

Microsoft has reduced its headcount repeatedly over the past 18 months. It laid off about 6,000 employees in May 2025 and about 9,000 more in July 2025, both rounds framed around efficiency and AI-driven productivity, Computerworld reported. The new offer comes days after Barclays said it would cut about 5,000 jobs this year, partly as it expands its use of AI, as AI Briefing News reported.