For the first time in its 51-year history, Microsoft will offer some employees the option to voluntarily leave with compensation. This was reported by CNBC, citing sources.
The program applies to approximately 7% of its U.S. workforce. Employees at the senior director level and below, whose combined age and tenure equal 70 years or more, are eligible for early retirement.
Eligible employees will receive details on May 7.
Last year, the company reduced expenses through several rounds of layoffs. Simultaneously, Microsoft is increasing its investments in data centers.
“We hope the program will provide an opportunity to take the next step with generous support from the firm,” wrote Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Amy Coleman in a memo.
Tech giants continue to reduce staff amid the rise of artificial intelligence and automation.
Meta plans to lay off 10% of its employees starting May 20. Additional optimization is being considered by the end of the year. It encourages the use of AI agents for programming and other tasks, even if it slows down work in the short term.
Amazon has terminated contracts with 30,000 employees over the past few months. In February, Block reduced nearly half of its workforce.
Copilot Enhancements
Microsoft has made Copilot features in Word, Excel, and PowerPoint available to all users. The AI assistant can perform multi-step actions directly in documents, spreadsheets, and presentations.
The company noted that the features introduced in September 2025 were limited due to insufficiently powerful models. The assistant could answer questions but struggled with agent-like functions such as making changes to a document.
Over the past year, neural networks have significantly improved in following instructions. In Word, the assistant now turns drafts into finished text: it creates outlines, rewrites material, and selects the appropriate style and tone. In Excel, it can analyze data, build analytical reports with explanations, create formulas, and visualizations. In PowerPoint, it can update layouts based on theses and data.
Microsoft is testing the integration of functions similar to OpenClaw in its Microsoft 365 Copilot service.