Microsoft announced on 26 October a voluntary exit programme open to about 60,000 employees, close to a quarter of its workforce. It covers staff up to level 70 in participating teams in the US, Canada, the UK and India, while sales and some engineering and corporate functions are excluded. The package includes severance, continued stock vesting, health coverage and career transition support. Employees decide in early December, and those who accept leave on 31 December.

What it means: The move is openly linked to efficiency gains from AI and to the company’s huge infrastructure spending. Instead of layoffs, Microsoft chose a voluntary route, which is gentler on staff but points to the same trend: large software firms are redesigning their teams around tools that write code, answer customers and automate internal work. For the Greek market there are two practical consequences. The first is talent: experienced engineers and managers leaving big groups often look for remote roles or partnerships, which opens opportunities for Greek companies that hire internationally. The second concerns Microsoft customers: when support and partner teams change, contact points, response times or product priorities in areas such as Dynamics and Azure may change too. Businesses that depend on them should confirm who their account manager is and keep their support agreements documented. More broadly, the trend shows that skills in using AI tools are becoming a core requirement for every team.

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