Microsoft Offers Buyouts to 60,000 People. Is AI Coming for Office Jobs?
Microsoft has offered voluntary exit packages to about a quarter of its workforce while spending record sums on AI data centres. It says it expects few people to accept. What the offer reveals about the future of work, and what it means for tech jobs in Europe and Serbia.
La risposta breve
Not overnight, but the shape of tech employment is changing. On 26 October Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly a quarter of its 223,000 staff, in teams including Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance in the US, Canada, India and the UK. Microsoft expects fewer than 5% to accept and says AI is not driving the offer, but it is shifting spending from people to data centres: quarterly capital spending reached $45.2 billion.
On Monday, 26 October, about 60,000 Microsoft employees opened an email with a link and a choice. They could stay, or they could leave by 31 December with a severance-style package. It was, the company said, something new. “The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us,” wrote Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, according to TechCrunch.
Sixty thousand is about a quarter of Microsoft’s workforce. That number alone explains why “will AI take my job” is one of the most searched questions of the week.
What Microsoft is offering, and to whom
The offer covers employees at vice president level and below in selected teams in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. Reported participants include Xbox, Windows and Devices, Copilot and AI experiences, finance and HR. Some staff in data centres, sales, marketing, commercial business and security are excluded. Employees have until early December to decide; those who accept leave on 31 December, Fortune reported. The terms are similar to Microsoft’s standard severance; no payment figures have been published.
Microsoft is careful about how this is read. A spokesperson said the company does not expect 60,000 people to leave and “would never want that”. Chief financial officer Amy Hood reportedly expects “very few people” to accept, and the company expects take-up below 5%. Microsoft also says AI is not driving the buyouts.
| Microsoft’s offer in numbers | |
|---|---|
| Employees offered a voluntary exit | about 60,000 |
| Total workforce (30 June 2026) | about 223,000 |
| Share of workforce | roughly a quarter |
| Expected take-up | under 5% |
| Earlier 2026 retirement offer | about 8,700 eligible, about 30% accepted |
| Decision deadline / exit date | early December / 31 December |
| Capital spending, quarter to 30 September | $45.2 billion (+30%) |
| Capital spending, fiscal year to June | $115.9 billion (prior year $64.6 billion) |
Sources: TechCrunch; Fortune.
People versus machines, in the accounts
Whatever the official reason, the company’s spending tells a clear story. In the year to June, Microsoft spent $115.9 billion on property and equipment, almost double the year before. In the latest quarter it spent $45.2 billion, about three quarters of it on short-lived assets such as chips and networking gear, and Hood reportedly expects more than $50 billion this quarter.
Jay Zagorsky, an economist at Boston University, told Fortune he reads the offer as a sign that Microsoft wants fewer workers as it shifts towards capital spending, and expects other Big Tech firms to follow. Joseph Phillips of Seattle University sees it differently: Microsoft’s headcount grew from about 144,000 in 2019 to about 228,000 in 2024, and the offer reorients the workforce rather than shrinking it for its own sake. Both readings can be true at once. A company can keep hiring for AI while thinning teams whose work AI tools are starting to do.
The pattern is wider than Microsoft. Weekly technology roundups this week noted productivity up and employment down across the tech sector, while some investors argue job-loss fears are fading because hiring has held up better than predicted. The evidence is genuinely mixed.
Which jobs are most exposed
No study can tell you whether your own job is safe. What researchers and companies agree on is the type of work that changes first:
- Routine digital tasks: drafting standard documents, summarising, basic coding, first-line customer support, data entry and reporting.
- Jobs inside software products that AI is reshaping, such as some testing, documentation and support roles.
- Back-office functions such as finance and HR operations, notably among the teams named in Microsoft’s offer.
The work that changes last tends to combine judgement, responsibility and contact with people: deciding, negotiating, caring, building, teaching, and fixing things in the physical world. Even there, the tools change how the work is done.
What it means for Europe and Serbia
The offer does not apply in Serbia, where Microsoft has run a development centre in Belgrade for two decades; the eligible countries are the US, Canada, India and the UK. The signal still travels. Much of Serbia’s IT sector works for foreign clients, and when large American tech firms cut costs, the first effect is usually fewer new projects and slower hiring, not sudden layoffs. For workers, the practical response is the same in Belgrade as in Seattle: learn to use AI tools well enough that you are the person who supervises the output, not the task the output replaces.
Investors are asking the same question of every tech giant this week, from Google’s search business to the AI-driven sell-off on Wall Street: when does the spending turn into profit? Part of the answer, it seems, is fewer people.
Frequently asked questions
Is Microsoft laying off 60,000 people?
No. It offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees and expects fewer than 5% to accept. Nobody is forced to leave under this offer.
Who is eligible for the Microsoft buyout?
Employees at vice president level and below in selected teams, such as Xbox, Windows, Copilot, finance and HR, in the US, Canada, India and the UK. Some data centre, sales, marketing and security staff are excluded.
When is the Microsoft buyout deadline?
Employees must decide by early December 2026; those who accept leave on 31 December.
Is AI the reason for Microsoft’s buyouts?
Microsoft says it is not. Economists note that it is shifting spending from people to AI infrastructure, with quarterly capital spending of $45.2 billion.
Will AI take my job?
Some tasks, especially routine digital work, are being automated first. Jobs that combine judgement, responsibility and work with people change more slowly. Learning to use AI tools is the most practical protection.
Does the Microsoft offer affect employees in Serbia?
No. The eligible countries are the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom.
Sources
- TechCrunch, Microsoft offers buyouts to around 60,000 employees (26 October 2026)
- Fortune, Microsoft’s 60,000-person buyout offer hints at a future with fewer workers (30 October 2026)
- CNBC, Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees (26 October 2026)
- Bloomberg, Microsoft to trim workforce with buyout offers (26 October 2026)
