Microsoft’s new Voluntary Exit Offer, open to about 60,000 employees, is built on the company’s standard severance terms rather than a richer, purpose-made deal. According to GeekWire, Microsoft says the package is equivalent to its standard severance. That covers base pay linked to tenure and level, continued stock vesting, healthcare for a fixed period and career transition services. A company spokesperson told KUOW that standard severance varies by market, so terms will differ for employees in the US, Canada, India and the UK. No country-specific figures have been made public. The offer is less generous than the voluntary retirement programme Microsoft ran in the spring. GeekWire reports that it does not include the extended healthcare that was a major draw of that scheme. KUOW notes that the retirement programme offered more generous terms to encourage uptake. GeekWire adds that Microsoft expects a much smaller share of staff to accept this time than the roughly 30 percent who took the retirement offer. The offer covers employees at level 70 and below on participating teams in the four countries. That cutoff reaches general managers and some vice presidents but not corporate vice presidents, and age, tenure and performance do not factor in. Reportedly, some groups, including some working on data centers, sales and marketing, are excluded.
Timeline for employees
Microsoft told staff that eligible employees would receive an email with a link to their individual offer details within hours of the announcement. Employees must decide in early December, and those who accept will leave on Dec. 31.
Microsoft’s rationale
In a memo to staff, Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said the offer gives eligible employees “a new choice to make that transition now with support.” Microsoft has also said the programme does not signal that it needs fewer people and is not a substitute for layoffs, which it has not ruled out.
