Laid off from Microsoft.
Microsoft has cut in waves in 2023, 2025 and 2026, including its largest round in a decade. Where terms are on record, they promised above-market severance, a phrase Microsoft never defined, and at least sixty days on payroll.
At a glance
What's known about Microsoft severance and layoffs
- One to two weeks per six months served · Severance, July 2026 documents
- 39 weeks of base pay · Severance ceiling, July 2026 documents
- 60 days, paid, before termination · Notice
- Six to 12 months of continued vesting · Equity, July 2026 documents
- Six months employer paid, then COBRA option · Healthcare
- 11 filings, 3,901 jobs, Washington and California · Tracked WARN filings since 2025
- 223,000 full time, 121,000 in the U.S. · Headcount, fiscal 2026 filing
Recent Microsoft layoffs
The Xbox restructuring reached Redmond in September 2026
A WARN notice posted on 6 July 2026 named 4 September as the day 605 Redmond jobs ended. FOX 13 Seattle reported those cuts as one piece of an Xbox reorganization the company put at about 3,200 roles globally through fiscal 2027. It's the only Microsoft filing our tracker holds for 2026, and severance documents from the same round were reviewed by Fast Company.
Previous rounds
Microsoft layoff history
If you're working out what Microsoft owes you, start with the fact that the company has put its severance terms in public exactly once. The memo announcing the January 2023 cuts promised U.S. benefit-eligible employees above-market severance pay, six months of healthcare, six months of continued stock vesting, career transition services, and 60 days of notice before termination regardless of whether that notice was legally required. The second time real terms surfaced they came from paperwork rather than an announcement. Fast Company reviewed the severance documents from the July 2026 round and found affected U.S. employees staying on payroll for at least 60 days after notification, with additional base pay stacked on top by level and length of service.
The formula in those documents runs on internal level, which is why no single week count describes it. Junior and mid-level staff earned one week of base pay for every six months worked, principal and director-level employees earned two weeks per six months, and the total stopped at 39 weeks. Executives sat under a separate arrangement. Stock vesting stayed live for six to 12 months after departure depending on service, and health coverage ran six months on the company before a COBRA option for another year. The same reporting put Salesforce between nine and 30 weeks and Oracle's ceiling at 26, which makes Microsoft's 39 the highest of the three. A ceiling describes the top of a range, not a typical check.
Sixty days is the term that has repeated, and it's also what separates the two dates on a layoff filing. The notice covering Redmond went up on 6 July 2026 and named 4 September as the day 605 jobs ended. Our tracker carries that filing under the September date, the close of the notice window rather than the morning anyone found out. If you're reading a filing about your own site, the date printed on it may be the day the job ends and not the day the news broke. In the July 2026 round the reported terms kept pay, benefits and vesting running through that window, though those were one round's terms, and only your own notice and separation agreement say what runs during yours.
The rounds behind those filings have been large and close together. January 2023 took 10,000 jobs, under 5% of the employee base, against a $1.2 billion charge covering severance, hardware changes and lease consolidation together, with no severance figure broken out of it. May 2025 took about 6,000, three percent of employees, with a spokesperson naming management layers as a target and ruling out performance. July 2025 took roughly 9,000 more. April 2026 brought a voluntary buyout, new for Microsoft, open to U.S. staff at senior director level and below whose age plus years of employment reached 70 or higher. For scale against the headlines, 2023's 10,000 remains the largest of these rounds, and the biggest cut in the company's history came in 2014, when it eliminated 18,000 after buying Nokia's devices and services business.
Microsoft's own filings show where all of it landed. The company reported 228,000 full-time employees at 30 June 2025 and 223,000 a year later, with U.S. headcount going from 125,000 to 121,000. That's a net drop of about 5,000, arithmetic between two filings rather than a count of anyone's layoff, since hiring and attrition move the same number. Inside that total, product research and development fell from 80,000 to 77,000 while operations held flat at 89,000. Our tracker holds 11 filings covering 3,901 jobs since the start of 2025, every one of them in Washington or California, and they're all readable in the WARN filing tracker. If yours is among them, the next useful hour goes to your separation agreement rather than the roundups, because the reported terms turn on your internal level and months of service, and those are what your paperwork will name.
Reporting on previous Microsoft layoff rounds
July 2026 · About 4,800 roles across Xbox and commercial sales, including 605 in Redmond that ended 4 September 2026
Severance documents reviewed by Fast Company put affected U.S. staff on payroll for at least 60 days after notification, then added one week of base pay per six months served for junior and mid-level staff and two weeks per six months at principal and director level, capped at 39 weeks. Six to 12 months of continued vesting, six months of employer-paid health coverage, and a COBRA option for another year.
April 2026 · A first voluntary buyout, offered to about 7% of U.S. employees at senior director level and below
Open where age plus years of employment reached 70 or higher, with staff on sales incentive plans excluded and details due to go out on 7 May. No payout terms on record.
July 2025 · About 9,000 roles, under 4% of the global workforce, heaviest in gaming
May 2025 · About 6,000 roles, 3% of employees, with management layers named as a target and performance ruled out
January 2023 · 10,000 roles, under 5% of the employee base
Above-market severance pay, 60 days of notice regardless of what the law required, six months of healthcare, and six months of continued stock vesting, plus career transition services.
How Microsoft's layoffs compare to other companies
Microsoft called its 2023 severance above-market in its own memo, the company's phrase and not a measurement. On the 2026 numbers its 39-week ceiling sat above Salesforce's nine to 30 weeks and Oracle's 26. A ceiling isn't a typical payment, and back in 2023 Google and Meta both started at 16 weeks plus two per year of service where Microsoft published no starting figure at all.
Your stock and equity
Microsoft continued stock award vesting for six months past termination in the 2023 round, and the July 2026 documents Fast Company reviewed stretched that to six to 12 months depending on length of service. Nothing in the reporting we track covers the 2025 rounds, so read your own agreement instead of assuming a term carried across.
What to do after being laid off from Microsoft
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Microsoft's biggest hubs: Washington, California. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Microsoft's hub states run: Washington, California, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Microsoft layoff and severance questions
What severance has Microsoft actually paid?
What sits on the record is terms rather than payouts, because Microsoft has published no account of what individual people received. Two rounds have documented terms behind them. The January 2023 memo promised above-market severance pay without ever defining the phrase, and severance documents from the July 2026 round, reviewed by Fast Company, set at least 60 days on payroll plus one to two weeks of base pay for every six months served, capped at 39 weeks. For the May and July 2025 rounds there are no terms on record.
Does Microsoft stock keep vesting after a layoff?
In the January 2023 round Microsoft said vesting continued for six months past termination. Reporting on the July 2026 documents put it at six to 12 months, scaled to length of service. Nothing in the reporting we track covers the 2025 waves, so read your agreement before counting on a vesting tail.
How much notice has Microsoft given?
Sixty days, in both rounds where the terms are known. The 2023 memo promised 60 days before termination regardless of whether the law required it, and the July 2026 documents kept affected U.S. employees on payroll for at least 60 days after notification. The Redmond WARN notice went up on 6 July 2026 for cuts that took effect on 4 September.
How is Microsoft severance calculated?
By internal level and length of service, in the one round with paperwork behind it. Fast Company reviewed the July 2026 documents and found junior and mid-level staff earning one week of base pay per six months worked, principal and director-level staff earning two weeks per six months, and a ceiling of 39 weeks. Executives sat under a separate arrangement.
Does Microsoft pay you during the 60 day notice period?
In the rounds with terms on record, yes. The 2023 memo placed the 60 days before termination, and the July 2026 documents kept people on payroll for at least 60 days from notification with severance weeks added on top. It's pay and benefits continuing while a search starts, rather than a lump sum handed over on a last day.
Who was eligible for Microsoft's buyout offer?
U.S. staff at senior director level and below whose age plus years of employment reached 70 or higher, which CNBC put at roughly 7% of U.S. employees. Anyone on a sales incentive plan was excluded. Microsoft announced it on 23 April 2026 and said details would reach eligible employees and their managers on 7 May.
What happens to my stock if I'm laid off from Microsoft?
Microsoft continued stock award vesting for six months past termination in the 2023 round, and the July 2026 documents Fast Company reviewed stretched that to six to 12 months depending on length of service. Nothing in the reporting we track covers the 2025 rounds, so read your own agreement instead of assuming a term carried across.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Microsoft?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Microsoft's biggest U.S. hubs are Washington, California. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Microsoft?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Microsoft?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Microsoft?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.