Microsoft has introduced a voluntary exit programme covering approximately 60,000 employees across India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada as the company continues to redirect resources toward artificial intelligence and data-centre infrastructure. The eligible population represents about 27% of Microsoft’s global workforce of roughly 223,000 employees at the end of June.
The programme applies to eligible employees at experience level 70 and below in participating organisations. Microsoft has approximately 23,000 employees in India, although the company has not disclosed how many members of its Indian workforce qualify for the offer. Eligible employees in India are expected to have until December 1 to decide whether to participate. The package is understood to follow Microsoft’s standard severance structure, including compensation linked to level and completed service, temporary health coverage and career-transition support.
Chief People Officer Amy Coleman presented the programme as a new approach intended to give employees greater control over career decisions while allowing Microsoft to reshape its workforce. The company has stressed that the eligible figure should not be interpreted as a target for departures. Employees who decline the offer remain in their existing roles, subject to normal organisational changes.
The programme follows previous workforce actions during 2026. Microsoft disclosed a planned offer covering about 8,750 US employees in May and announced approximately 4,800 job cuts in July, including positions in its Xbox business. The latest offer is considerably broader geographically and directly includes Microsoft’s large engineering and enterprise-technology workforce in India.
Microsoft is simultaneously expanding its AI, cloud and data-centre operations. The company has reiterated its commitment to provide AI skills training to 20 million people in India by 2030. Its workforce decisions therefore sit alongside continued investment in Copilot, Azure infrastructure, AI development tools and enterprise deployment capabilities. The company is scheduled to publish its latest quarterly results this week, providing further visibility into the financial effect of its infrastructure spending and workforce strategy.
