Microsoft Introduces First Voluntary Retirement Program

Microsoft has introduced its first voluntary retirement program in its 51-year history. The move comes amid changes in the business environment, including a recent sharp decline in stock prices and low adoption rates for AI. This voluntary retirement program targets employees in the US at the senior director level and below, whose combined age and years of service exceed 70. Amy Coleman, Microsoft's Executive Vice President of Human Resources, stated, "We hope to provide eligible employees with the opportunity to choose their next step with ample company support."

In addition to voluntary retirement, Microsoft is also implementing organizational reforms, such as streamlining the manager evaluation process and changing employee stock allocation methods. Managers will no longer be required to directly link cash bonuses with stock, and the number of salary options will be reduced from nine to five.

Despite Microsoft's aggressive investment in AI, its flagship AI service '365 Copilot' has only achieved a 3% adoption rate. Due to slowing growth in its cloud division and high dependence on OpenAI, Microsoft's stock price fell nearly 24% between January and March of this year, marking its largest quarterly drop since 2008.