Punjab Newsline | Washington
Microsoft on Monday launched a Voluntary Exit Offer for a significant section of its workforce in the United States, Canada, India and the United Kingdom. The move comes as the technology giant seeks to balance rising expenditure on artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure with financial efficiency.
Under the new scheme, eligible employees at level 70 or below have been given the option to voluntarily leave the company. According to a CNBC report, citing a person familiar with the matter, around 60,000 employees could be covered under the program. This represents approximately 22 per cent of Microsoft's total workforce of 223,000 employees.
Microsoft has been increasing investments in data centres to meet the growing computing demands of AI. The company also provides cloud services to Anthropic, OpenAI and several other businesses.
In July, Microsoft said its capital expenditure for the September quarter was expected to exceed $50 billion. This compares with capital expenditure and finance leases totalling $34.9 billion in the corresponding quarter last year.
The rising expenditure has also prompted the company to explore workforce-related cost-saving measures. In April, Microsoft announced a voluntary retirement programme for the first time for its US employees, potentially covering around seven per cent of its American workforce. In July, the company also announced plans to lay off 4,800 employees.
Amy Coleman, Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer, described the Voluntary Exit Offer as an important step towards making organisational changes more flexible.
In a message to employees, Coleman said the initiative was part of the company's evolving approach to change, aimed at providing greater flexibility and giving employees more options to decide on the next stage of their careers wherever possible.
She added that the new programme builds on the lessons learned from the voluntary retirement programme introduced earlier this year.
