Microsoft announces voluntary exit offer for employees in India, 3 other countries

Microsoft on Monday announced a voluntary exit programme for eligible employees in India, the US, the UK and Canada, offering financial support and career planning resources to those opting to leave the company, according to a blog post by the tech giant.

Microsoft has about 23,000 employees in India, although there is no immediate clarity on how many of them would be eligible for the voluntary exit programme. Globally, around 60,000 employees are eligible.

It is learnt that eligible employees in India will have until December 1 to decide on the voluntary exit offer.

The package is understood to be similar to a standard severance arrangement, including one month's base salary for each completed year of service, plus health insurance and career transition services.

Microsoft's Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Amy Coleman informed in her blog post that the voluntary exit offer (VEO), which will be available to employees at level 70 and below (internal job grades that span various levels of seniority at Microsoft) in participating teams across the four countries, is a time-limited initiative aimed at providing greater flexibility to employees considering opportunities outside the company.

The offer will be available to eligible employees in participating teams in Canada, India, the United Kingdom and the United States, she wrote in the post.

Meanwhile, a Microsoft spokesperson said the company continues to invest in India's talent and technology ecosystem and is backing the country's AI ambitions with $20.5 billion in committed investment between 2025 and 2029 across cloud and AI infrastructure, skilling and operations.

"We are also on track to fulfil our commitment of equipping 20 million people across India with AI skills by 2030," the Microsoft spokesperson said.

Coleman - in her blog post - said the programme would provide employees with an option to make the transition with support, while allowing participating businesses to adjust their workforce according to evolving requirements.

"This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support. It also gives participating organisations another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs," Coleman said.

The company clarified that the programme would not be implemented uniformly across its operations, with participation depending on individual business priorities, customer commitments and workforce requirements.

Eligible employees will receive emails detailing the terms of their voluntary exit offers, the blog post said.

"The Voluntary Exit Offer is new for us. We'll learn from it," Coleman said.

She added that Microsoft would continue helping employees develop new skills and explore internal career opportunities, where appropriate.

"There is no one-size-fits-all approach for every team or every employee," Coleman said, emphasising that the company would seek to balance changing business requirements with opportunities for employees to grow and contribute.