After announcing layoffs impacting 2.1% of its global workforce, Microsoft is offering most US employees up to 39 weeks of base pay, according to severance offers reviewed by Business Insider.
The US severance package includes a minimum of 60 days of base pay and up to a maximum of 39 weeks of base pay for employees, based on seniority level and tenure at the company, Business Insider reported.
Microsoft is also offering laid-off employees regular stock vesting for six to 12 months based on their years of service. In addition, the company is offering six months of continued health insurance coverage, as well as an additional year of optional COBRA coverage.
According to Business Insider, employees who are at internal levels 64 — entry-level, mid-level and senior positions — and below will receive one week of base pay for every six months of service; employees between levels 65 and 67 — principal and director level roles — will receive two weeks of pay for every six months of service; and executives at level 68 and higher have a separate package.
Microsoft declined Fast Company‘s request for comment.
The cuts mostly impacted Microsoft’s sales and Xbox divisions. Through the end of the fiscal year, Xbox plans to cut 20% of its staff. As part of “the most significant restructuring in Xbox history,” as Xbox CEO Asha Sharma stated, staffers with decades of experience at the company had their roles eliminated — including an Xbox vice president who spent 37 years with the company.
One laid-off Microsoft employee based in India shared their offer of active employment until mid-October followed by eight weeks of severance in a post on Blind, an anonymous workplace forum. “It’s a decent cushion, but I’m still stressed,” they wrote. “The hiring market feels much tougher than it did even a year ago.”
Big Tech companies offer a range of severance packages — some more generous than others.
Salesforce, which recently had a round of layoffs, offers a standard severance package which includes a minimum of nine weeks and a max of 30 weeks base pay. Block, which laid off 4,000 employees earlier this year, offered those impacted 20 weeks of salary, one additional week for every year of tenure, six months of healthcare and a $5,000 stipend.
Oracle, which laid off up to 30,000 staffers earlier this year, offered employees four weeks of base pay plus one week per year of service, capped at 26 weeks, and one month of COBRA insurance — in turn for employees signing a release waiving their right to sue.
On the other hand, after Meta laid off 10% of its global workforce in May, the company offered US employees 16 weeks in base pay and two weeks of pay for every year of continuous employment.
