Microsoft announced a voluntary exit program Monday, October 26, that makes approximately 60,000 employees eligible for buyouts, equivalent to nearly 27% of its global workforce. The company has not announced 60,000 job cuts, and the final number of workers who will accept remains unknown.
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman announced that eligible employees at internal level 70 and below in participating organizations in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom could leave with financial support and career-planning resources. Microsoft said employees would receive individual offer details by email within hours.
The company confirmed the roughly 60,000 eligibility figure to GeekWire. Its fiscal 2026 annual report counted 223,000 full-time employees as of June 30, including 121,000 in the United States. Microsoft has not disclosed how many of the eligible workers live in Texas.
Which Workers Qualify And What They Receive
Participating teams include AI experiences, Copilot, CoreAI, Windows + Devices, Xbox, finance and human resources, according to sources who spoke to The Verge. Some cloud, AI and legal teams also participate. Marketing, commercial business, discovery and quantum, and security teams do not participate, the outlet said. Microsoft has not published a comprehensive list of affected offices.
The buyout package matches standard severance benefits, including base pay tied to tenure and level, continued stock vesting, limited healthcare coverage and career-transition services, Microsoft confirmed to GeekWire. Employees have until the first week of December to decide. Unlike its earlier voluntary retirement program, the new offer does not depend on age, tenure or performance.
Microsoft expects a lower acceptance rate than the roughly 30% who accepted its earlier retirement offer, the company told GeekWire. It has not provided a specific projection for the new program.
Does The Program Trigger WARN Notices?
The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act generally requires advance notice for qualifying mass layoffs and plant closings. However, the Department of Labor explains that genuinely voluntary departures under incentive programs do not count as employment losses for federal WARN purposes. Other workforce actions may trigger notice obligations depending on their circumstances.
No public WARN filing specifically connected to the October 26 voluntary offer was established during this review. That does not prove that no filing exists or that none will follow. Microsoft has not released a Texas-specific eligibility or departure count.
Questions Surround H-1B Employees
Microsoft has not said whether H-1B visa holders qualify for the offers, how many might receive them, or whether the company will provide immigration-specific assistance. A departure could create different visa and work-authorization consequences for a foreign worker than for a U.S. citizen, but the available announcement does not establish individual outcomes.
The questions arise after a separate federal action involving Microsoft’s employment-based green-card sponsorship process. The Department of Labor suspended the company and seven other employers from processing through the PERM program October 8, as The Dallas Express previously detailed. That separate action did not cancel existing H-1B status and does not establish any connection between visa status and Monday’s buyout selection.
What Remains Unknown
Microsoft has not disclosed its expected number of departures, total buyout cost, detailed location breakdown, Texas impact or H-1B participation. It also has not announced specific customer-service or product disruptions linked to the program.
The latest offer follows an earlier voluntary retirement initiative and 4,800 job cuts in July. Microsoft is scheduled to release quarterly earnings Wednesday, October 28, when investors may receive more information about workforce costs.
Provided by Dallas Express
