This was announced back in April. Lot better than doing layoffs imo. If someone is already checked out then giving them an incentive to leave works out for both sides.

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swiftcoder 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

There's no way 25% of their total employee base are "checked out". Yes, a bunch of folks close to retirement or fed up with working there will take the deal. But with the job market as it is, a whole lot will roll the dice on keeping their job through the inevitable follow-up round of layoffs.

This is just an optics-friendly way to soften the blow of 25% layoffs.

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noident 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

In my experience it's more the case that 70% of employees are checked out

	▲	warmedcookie 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		This is my experience too, although probably not checked out enough to take a voluntary severance. Most people just want to chill and work at a steady pace. That kind of work ethic is fine for most industries, but not tech companies unfortunately.

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compiler-guy 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

It is much better than optics friendly, because it gives the affected people a chance to determine their own destiny.

Layoffs absolutely suck, and there is likely more pain on the way, but if the alternatives are voluntary buyouts + layoffs vs plain layoffs, the first is much better.

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pooloo 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I think the April instance was a different one all-together but that was also followed with layoffs in July. Seems they expect less than 30% of the 60,000 to take the deal?

https://www.geekwire.com/2026/microsoft-makes-new-voluntary-...

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ThrowawayB7 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

MS has had many rounds of layoffs already in the past 2-3 years. If there was anyone visibly checked out, they'd have been gone quite a while ago.

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orra 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In April, 7% was the announced figure. This is several times higher.

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j45 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This many layoffs is likely far beyond "checked out" employees.

It's probably taking advantage of economic arbitrage, plus healthy beliefs in what AI can maintain.

The interesting thing will be to see what new things companies who do this can achieve.

The question above whether to take it now or try to delay taking a package is an interesting thought.

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drstewart 3 hours ago | parent [-]

>This many layoffs is likely far beyond "checked out" employees.

25% offers != 25% layoffs

	▲	j45 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Good point. up to 25% is no small number either. After offers, they could enforce any percentage of layoffs up to 25%, no? Offers often come before layoffs, no?