Laid off from Microsoft.
Microsoft has cut in waves every year since 2023, including its largest round in a decade. The packages have stayed decent, and the sixty day notice period has done a lot of quiet work in employees' favor.
At a glance
What's been reported about Microsoft severance packages
- About 12 weeks + 2 weeks per year · Severance, 2025 reported accounts
- 60 days, paid, before termination · Notice
- 6 months of continued vesting (2023 round) · Equity
- 6 months of continued coverage · Healthcare
The latest
A first-ever buyout offer to 7% of U.S. staff
In April 2026 Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 8,750 U.S. employees, senior director and below, whose age plus tenure totals 70 or more. Reporting put the package at the familiar 12-plus-2 formula with the 2023 round's healthcare and vesting terms as precedent.
Previous rounds
How Microsoft has handled layoffs in the past
Microsoft has cut in waves every year since 2023, and it has never once published its severance formula. The 2023 announcement called the packages above benchmark without defining them. The 2025 rounds, about 6,000 roles in May and roughly 9,000 in July, the company's largest single cut since 2014, came with no published terms at all. What exists instead is a stack of consistent reported accounts putting the recent formula around 12 weeks plus 2 per year, a number the April 2026 buyout offer was also reported to match.
The parts Microsoft has repeated are structural. Sixty days of paid notice has appeared in every documented round, which has kept salary, benefits, and vesting running while people searched. The 2023 round added an unusually generous tail, six months of continued stock vesting after termination, and no reporting has confirmed whether the 2025 waves kept it. That gap between confirmed-then and unknown-now is exactly the kind of detail to check in your own agreement before assuming either way.
The recent rounds have also been concentrated rather than shallow, hitting gaming hardest, Xbox, ZeniMax, and King, plus GitHub and layers of management. Concentrated cuts have a dynamic of their own. Whole teams have entered the market at once, meaning your most direct competition for the next role often got laid off the same morning you did. That makes the runway math and the early filing matter more, not less.
Recent Microsoft layoffs
April 2026 · Voluntary buyouts offered to about 8,750 U.S. employees, roughly 7% of U.S. staff
Open to senior director and below where age plus tenure totals 70 or more, reported around 12 weeks plus 2 per year with the 2023 healthcare and vesting terms as precedent. Microsoft's first companywide buyout program.
July 2025 · About 9,000 roles, the largest single cut since 2014, heavy in Xbox, ZeniMax, King, GitHub, and Azure
Terms not officially published. Reported accounts describe roughly 12 weeks plus 2 per year.
May 2025 · About 6,000 roles across engineering and management layers
Multiple reported accounts put the formula at 12 weeks of base pay plus 2 weeks per year of service.
January 2023 · About 10,000 roles, just under 5% of the company
Above-benchmark severance in Microsoft's words, 60 days of paid notice, 6 months of healthcare, 6 months of continued stock vesting, career transition services.
Your stock and equity
Microsoft continued stock award vesting for six months past termination in the 2023 round, an unusually long tail. Whether the 2025 waves kept that term hasn't been publicly confirmed, so check your separation agreement rather than assuming.
Quick answers
What severance has Microsoft actually paid?
Microsoft has never published a formula. The 2023 round was described by the company as above benchmark, and consistent reported accounts of the 2025 rounds describe roughly 12 weeks plus 2 per year. Treat any specific number as secondhand until your offer letter states it.
Does Microsoft stock keep vesting after a layoff?
In the 2023 round it did, for six months past termination, an unusually long tail. No reporting has confirmed that term in the 2025 waves, so check your agreement rather than assuming it carried over.
How much notice has Microsoft given?
Sixty days of paid notice has appeared in each documented round, keeping pay, benefits, and vesting running through the notice window.
What severance has Microsoft given laid-off employees?
About 12 weeks + 2 weeks per year (severance, 2025 reported accounts). Open to senior director and below where age plus tenure totals 70 or more, reported around 12 weeks plus 2 per year with the 2023 healthcare and vesting terms as precedent. Microsoft's first companywide buyout program. Packages change between rounds, and your separation agreement is the only version that counts.
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, an unusually long tail. Whether the 2025 waves kept that term hasn't been publicly confirmed, so check your separation agreement rather than assuming.
Where do I file for unemployment after a Microsoft layoff?
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.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
Not on the spot. 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.
Help for people recently 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.
- Don't sign the severance agreement on the spot. Find out in writing how long you have to review it. At 40 or older, federal law guarantees 21 days, 45 in group layoffs. Under 40, the packet's deadline may be real, so ask for time rather than assume. Read our severance breakdown first. The clauses matter more than the number.
- 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.
- 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.