Microsoft (MSFT) has spent the past two years committing enormous sums to artificial intelligence. In the September 2025 quarter alone, the company spent nearly $35 billion on AI infrastructure, a 74% increase from the same period a year earlier.
Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood told analysts that capital expenditure growth would be even faster in fiscal 2026. That level of investment carries a cost, and the company has been working to offset it through persistent reductions in labor costs.
On Oct. 26, Chief People Officer Amy Coleman sent a memo to employees announcing a new program called the Voluntary Exit Offer. Coleman described it as a way to give eligible workers more ways to shape their next professional step, with financial support and career-planning resources available to those who choose to leave. The offer is time-limited, and employees who receive it will have until early December to decide.
The scale of what Microsoft is putting on the table is significant. The company is making the offer available to roughly 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its total global workforce, across four countries.
What the program covers and who can apply
The offer applies to employees in the U.S., Canada, India and the U.K. at internal level 70 and below. Eligible workers will receive details directly by email. Microsoft set the decision deadline for early December. Workers who accept are scheduled to exit by the end of the year.
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Not every employee at those levels is included. The offer excludes sales teams, certain engineering groups and some corporate functions. Microsoft said participation varies by business unit, based on each team’s priorities, customer commitments and workforce needs.
Microsoft described the program as voluntary and time-limited. The company said eligible employees will receive financial support and access to career-planning resources if they choose to accept, but workers are under no obligation to do so.
In the memo, Coleman said the offer reflects Microsoft’s effort to create “greater flexibility” and give employees “more ways to shape their next chapter.” The company did not provide additional details on which career-planning resources would be made available.
How the severance is structured
Microsoft has not released the full terms of the Voluntary Exit Offer. The company said the package resembles prior severance rounds but gave no breakdown. In the U.S., earlier packages covered at least 60 days of base pay, running on the regular payroll schedule rather than paid out as a lump sum on the last day.
For most employees, total severance can reach up to 39 weeks of base pay, depending on seniority and tenure. Workers at internal levels 64 and below received one week of base pay for every six months of service in prior rounds. Employees at levels 65 through 67 received two weeks of base pay for every six months of service, according to offers reviewed by Business Insider.
Microsoft said there are no plans for another buyout program after this one closes. The company framed the current offer as a standalone, time-limited opportunity rather than the first of multiple rounds.
Workers who are weighing the offer should review the complete written terms carefully. Severance payments are typically taxable as ordinary income, and the value of the package depends on tenure, internal level, the treatment of any bonus or equity awards and what healthcare coverage looks like after the employment end date.
The company is making the offer available to roughly 60,000 employees, more than a quarter of its total global workforce.picture alliance / Getty Images
What is driving the push
The Voluntary Exit Offer follows Microsoft’s Voluntary Retirement Program, which was made available to roughly 9,000 employees who met age and tenure criteria. About one-third of eligible workers accepted that offer, which the company said was in line with its expectations at the time.
Microsoft also cut 4,800 jobs in 2026 through involuntary layoffs. Those cuts came as the company was increasing capital spending on AI infrastructure and stepping back from some older business lines.
A voluntary program gives Microsoft an alternative. Workers who accept leave on their own terms create less friction than a layoff round. The downside is that the company cannot choose who goes. Employees with the most marketable skills are often the first to take a buyout.
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Microsoft spent nearly $35 billion on AI infrastructure in a single quarter and is now handing out checks for 60,000 employees to go. The company says the program gives workers more control over their next step.
It also trims a payroll Microsoft has been working to shrink while it redirects spending toward AI. Involuntary layoffs generate news coverage, employee lawsuits and morale problems. This program, structured properly, sidesteps most of that.
Whether the offer is genuinely good for a given worker depends on the individual. For some, it is a clean exit with severance they would not otherwise have. For others, it means giving up a role that was not actually at risk. Microsoft has no incentive to help workers tell the difference.
What employees should think through before deciding
Microsoft set the decision deadline for early December, giving eligible workers roughly six weeks from when offer emails go out. The program closes at that point. Microsoft has said there are no plans for a follow-up round.
The severance amount is one factor, but not the only one. The total value of accepting depends on how long the worker has been at the company, their internal level, how their equity awards are treated at the point of exit and whether any performance bonus is included or forfeited. Workers at higher internal levels with longer tenures will receive materially different packages than newer employees at lower levels.
Health coverage is a separate question from severance. Employees need to check when their coverage ends after the exit date and what replacing it would cost out of pocket. Severance is taxed as ordinary income. Workers who take a large payout in a single calendar year may end the year in a higher bracket than they expected.
Six weeks covers a lot of ground. Workers need to read the actual offer document, understand how their equity is treated at exit and figure out what their tax bill looks like if a large severance payment lands in a single calendar year. That is before accounting for what comes next in the career. Microsoft picked that timeline. It did not have to be six weeks. Workers should factor in who benefits when that clock runs short.
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