Incentivized exits | Will more employers run voluntary retirement programs à la Microsoft?

At the end of last week, Microsoft made a historic announcement – not the launch of a new groundbreaking system or tool, but the rollout of a one-off voluntary retirement program for the first time in its history.

Around 7% of the tech giant’s US workforce has been given the option to retire early. Only senior director-level staff and below are eligible, and must have a combined age and years of service totaling more than 70.

It marked yet another initiative in a long stream of tech companies across the US to downsize workforces.

While many of these have come in the form of cost-cutting redundancies, Microsoft’s move may be a sign that employers are increasingly willing to pull more levers to scale back their headcount, and – potentially – free up room for increased artificial intelligence spending.