Microsoft is offering laid-off US employees up to 39 weeks’ base pay for most US employees, according to severance offers reviewed by Business Insider.
Microsoft on Monday announced plans to lay off around 4,800 employees, or 2.1% of its global workforce, confirming Business Insider’s earlier report.
The US severance package includes a minimum of 60 days of base pay, during which employees will remain on the payroll, up to a maximum of 39 weeks of base pay for most employees, based on seniority and tenure.
Employees at internal levels 64 and below will receive one week of base pay per six months of service, and employees at levels 65 to 67 will receive two weeks of base pay per six months of service. There’s a separate package for executives levels 68 and higher.
The company is also offering continued regular stock vesting for six or 12 months for levels 67 and below, based on years of service, and six months of paid health insurance coverage plus an additional 12 months of optional COBRA coverage.
Those terms are similar to those the company offered earlier this year in its Voluntary Retirement Program buyouts, according to a document viewed by Business Insider, except that the layoffs include shorter health insurance coverage durations.
The layoffs come as Microsoft cuts costs and plans significant spending, including $190 billion in capital expenditures this year, primarily related to its AI infrastructure buildout.
The cuts mostly impact the sales and Xbox gaming organizations, Microsoft chief people officer Amy Coleman wrote in an email to employees. Microsoft’s Xbox division also plans to cut 20% of its workforce by the end of June.
A maximum of 39 weeks of severance appears more generous than offers from some competing tech companies.
Salesforce, which recently conducted layoffs, has a standard severance package of a minimum of nine weeks and a maximum of 30 weeks of base pay. Oracle offered laid-off US employees four weeks’ base salary, plus one week per additional year of employment, up to 26 weeks, as severance.
Meta, meanwhile, recently offered laid-off US employees a severance package including 16 weeks — or four months — in base pay, plus two weeks for every year of continuous employment.
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