Big Tech's next round of layoffs could start with volunteers
Big Tech companies are increasingly utilizing voluntary buyouts as a strategy to reduce headcounts, with employees at Google and Microsoft pushing for these programs as a more humane alternative to layoffs. Experts suggest that while buyouts can improve morale, they present challenges regarding the retention of top talent.
Why it matters
This trend signals a shift in corporate workforce management within the tech sector as companies transition from rapid growth to more mature, cost-conscious operational models.
Some Google employees are rallying for voluntary buyouts to be offered before layoffs. Noah Berger/Associated Press Some Google workers are pushing for voluntary buyouts as a standard first step to trimming head count. Meanwhile, Microsoft recently offered retirement packages on a broad scale for the first time. Buyouts can soften job cuts, though when made available to workers of all tenures, firms risk losing top talent. Voluntary buyouts are having a moment in Big Tech. Workers at Google recently pressed the search giant to make the exit offers a standard first step whenever it plans job cuts — and to extend them to all members of affected teams, regardless of tenure. Microsoft, meanwhile, launched its first broad voluntary retirement program this past spring, offering packages to thousands of longtime US employees. It said that more than 30% of those eligible accepted.
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