Big tech has used voluntary retirement and buyout programs during prior efficiency cycles and post boom adjustments.
Translation: ‘You’re not fired, you’re ‘involuntarily retired’ with a nice package.’ AI doesn’t need pensions. Smart cost-cutting before earnings.
Microsoft plans first-ever voluntary employee buyout for up to 7% of U.S. workforce
Microsoft will offer voluntary buyouts to some U.S. employees, a first for the 51-year-old software giant, as the tech industry grapples with major changes sparked by the artificial intelligence boom.
About 7% of U.S. employees are eligible, according to a person familiar with the plans who asked not to be named because the number isn’t being made public. The one-time retirement program, announced in a memo on Thursday, will be available to U.S. workers at the senior director level and below whose years of employment and age add up to 70 or higher.
Eligible employees and their managers will receive details on May 7. Those with sales incentive plans cannot participate.