Microsoft is presenting economic incentives to personnel labeled as underperformers as part of a broader staff restructuring initiative following essential layoffs introduced earlier in May.


Consistent with a report by Enterprise Insider, the tech giant has rolled out a voluntary exit application that grants 16 weeks of pay to employees who select to resign rather than go through a performance development plan (PIP). The catch: personnel must make their decision within five days of receiving the offer.


People who decline the payout could be positioned on a PIP, which has extensively appeared as a precursor to termination. As soon as they are on a PIP, personnel forfeit the option of receiving the sixteen-week severance. Furthermore, employees who begin the PIP but later leave voluntarily or are brushed off will face a 1-year ban on reemployment at microsoft and will no longer be eligible for internal process transfers at some stage in that period.


The initiative is a part of Microsoft’s persevered efforts to restructure its operations and increase performance. Earlier this month, economic instances mentioned that the business enterprise’s layoffs were tied to a larger push to streamline its organizational shape. Amy Coleman, Microsoft’s chief people officer, characterized the technique as “transparent,” noting that the company is striving to address performance problems with equity and readability.


The restructuring comes at a time of ongoing turbulence inside the tech quarter. According to Trueup, a platform tracking enterprise layoffs, 234 task cuts have taken place in 2025 up to now, affecting over 45,000 employees—averaging almost 440 layoffs per day. By using evaluation, 2024 recorded over 1,100 layoff events, impacting greater than 238,000 people, in step with the ET file.


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Microsoft specializes in AI.


Whilst microsoft continues to invest heavily in its AI and cloud offerings, recent financial effects have provided a mixed picture. Azure, the employer’s flagship cloud platform, mentioned 31 in keeping with cent revenue increase within the financial 2D sector, slightly missing analysts' expectations of 31.8 consistent with cent. Further, revenue for the broader Smart Cloud division came in at $25.54 billion, falling slightly short of projections. Though Microsoft’s general revenue rose 12 percent year-over-year to $69.6 billion, exceeding marketplace forecasts.

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