Microsoft Says 30% Took Retirement Buyouts as 4,500 Google Workers Push Broader Exit Offers
Updated
Updated · Business Insider · Jul 27
Microsoft Says 30% Took Retirement Buyouts as 4,500 Google Workers Push Broader Exit Offers
3 articles · Updated · Business Insider · Jul 27
Summary
More than 30% of employees eligible for Microsoft’s first broad U.S. voluntary retirement program accepted the offer, giving one of Big Tech’s clearest tests yet of buyouts as a headcount tool.
Microsoft launched the program in April for workers whose age plus years of service totaled at least 70, then cut about 4,800 jobs this month; packages included cash based on tenure and up to five years of health coverage.
At Google, nearly 100 employees rallied in Mountain View and delivered a petition signed by more than 4,500 workers urging the company to make buyouts a standard first step in future job cuts.
HR and legal advisers said buyouts can soften morale damage and let workers leave on their own terms, but they are less predictable than layoffs and can prompt valuable employees to depart.
The debate is widening as older Silicon Valley companies carry larger long-tenured workforces: Alphabet said headcount rose by nearly 12,000 over the past year to about 199,000.