Microsoft to offer voluntary buyouts to eligible US employees under a one-time retirement programme

CPO Amy Coleman said through this move, a first for the company, Microsoft hopes to give the employees involved " the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support."

Microsoft will be offering voluntary buyouts to some of its US employees from May onwards, according to CNBC.

Per the report, this will be the first time the company is making such a move. About 7% of its US employees are said to be eligible, all of whom are at the senior director level and below, whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or higher.

It was added that eligible employees and their managers will receive details on this on 7 May, and it will not apply to those with sales incentive plans.

Responding to queries from HRO, a Microsoft spokesperson confirmed that the CNBC report "includes the available details of this offer for US employees."

In a note seen by CNBC, Amy Coleman, Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer, Microsoft, said the company's hope is that the one-time retirement programme "gives those eligible the choice to take that next step on their own terms, with generous company support."

Per CNBC's coverage, the one-time retirement programme comes as the company has been "ramping up its capital spending on data centers to supply cloud clients with computing power that can handle generative AI models."

Microsoft will also make adjustments to the way it distributes employee stock for annual rewards. With this, managers will no longer be made to tie stock directly to cash bonuses, it was noted.

This way, "managers have more flexibility to meaningfully recognise high performance," Coleman was quoted as saying.

Microsoft has been taking a series of measures to reduce costs over the past year. In May 2025, it reportedly laid off 3% of its global workforce as part of organisational changes. In a statement to HRO, a spokesperson said these changes were "necessary to best position the company for success in a dynamic marketplace."

A couple of months later, in July, the company implemented a fresh round of layoffs affected about 9,000 roles, or less than 4% of the total workforce. A spokesperson also cited a similar reason, adding: "Even in the best of times, we have regularly adjusted our workforce to meet the strategic demands of the business."

ALSO READ: Samsung workers stage large-scale rally, demand higher pay and bonus cap abolition