The company has doubled down on how central AI is to its operations, even asking employees to utilize the tool sufficiently if they hope to get an A-plus on their performance reviews. The company’s investments in AI are unsurprising considering how central this tech has become for the industry, but the scale of Microsoft’s layoffs has been particularly noteworthy. Microsoft 365 empowers your organization to organize, and safely store files in OneDrive with intuitive and easy organizational tools. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app empowers your employees to do their best work with Copilot in the apps they use daily. We have already seen reports of multiple employee protests at the organization over its business practices and political associations, which suggest the presence of considerable unrest among employees.
2014: Windows 8/8.1, Xbox One, Outlook.com, and Surface devices
Workers in the Puget Sound region will be required to work in the office three days a week by the end of February 2026. The company will later roll out the expectations to other offices in the United States before fully transitioning workers at their other global offices. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app brings together your favorite apps and Copilot in one intuitive platform. Download the free FOX LOCAL app for mobile in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store for live Seattle news, top stories, weather updates and more local and national news. Microsoft will soon announce timelines for back-to-work orders at other U.S. locations soon, with more planning for global locations happening next year. Employees living within 50 miles of a Microsoft office in the Puget Sound area will be expected to work onsite by February 2026 for three days out of the week.
New reports from the Seattle Times confirmed that Microsoft was entering its fifth consecutive month of layoffs, albeit on a smaller scale this time around. The Microsoft Redmond job cuts add up to around 42 workers, but this brings the number of cuts among Washington-based employees to over 3,200, and the total number of employees affected by layoffs since May 2025 to over 15,000. Microsoft continues down the warpath, making cuts both big and small across its organization for the fifth month in a row. The link between the Microsoft job cuts and the company’s AI investments is clear to see, but the evidence doesn’t soften the blow for employees. Microsoft layoffs, for the fifth month in a row, add to the consistent anxiety that employees are operating under, fearful of what’s to come next.
Layoffs Lower Glassdoor Ratings, but HR Can Help Set Things Right
It has been criticized for its monopolistic practices, and the company’s software has been criticized for problems with ease of use, robustness, and security. The Microsoft 365 Copilot app brings together your favorite apps in one intuitive platform that keeps your data secure with enterprise data protection. Empower your organization with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat that supercharges productivity, sparks creativity, and keeps your data protected with enterprise data protection. The tech industry is highly competitive, and prolonged layoffs can deter top talent from joining or staying with Microsoft, despite the trend of layoffs across top-tier organizations. Layoffs are notorious for disrupting organizational culture, particularly at a company like Microsoft, which has historically prided itself on innovation and collaboration.
- The tech industry is highly competitive, and prolonged layoffs can deter top talent from joining or staying with Microsoft, despite the trend of layoffs across top-tier organizations.
- An example is Microsoft Canada, which it established in 1985.223 Other countries have similar installations, to funnel profits back up to Redmond and to distribute the dividends to the holders of MSFT stock.
- Employees living within 50 miles of a Microsoft office in the Puget Sound area will be expected to work onsite by February 2026 for three days out of the week.
Microsoft Refresh Project (Campus Modernization)
In most cases, these fears are unfounded, and employees can eventually return to work with a clear head. Microsoft’s AI-motivated layoffs may be beneficial for the company’s expense and profit margins, but it is wearing employees down. All layoffs, big or small, affect employees in innumerable ways, from denting morale to cutting their careers short right when economic uncertainties are on the rise. Layoffs don’t just affect the employees who are cut, but they have a similar impact on those who are left behind as well. While downsizing announcements are never easy on employees, the prolonged cuts at the company are particularly harsh, leaving workers to stew in their workplace survivor’s guilt and wonder when the company will come for their roles next. In a statement released on Tuesday, Sept. 9, an executive lays out a couple of reasons for the upcoming changes to hybrid schedules.
Crisis Management in Action: Toyota’s Temporary Layoffs Approved by Workers
Department of Justice found340 that was used internally by Microsoft341 to describe its strategy for entering product categories involving widely used standards, extending those standards with proprietary capabilities, and then using those differences to strongly disadvantage competitors. Microsoft is frequently accused of using anticompetitive tactics and abusing its monopolistic power. People who use their products and services often end up becoming dependent on them, a process is known as vendor lock-in. Microsoft’s logo with the tagline “Your potential. Our passion.”—below the main corporate name—is based on a slogan Microsoft used in 2008. An example is Microsoft Canada, which it established in 1985.223 Other countries have similar installations, to funnel profits back up to Redmond and to distribute the dividends to the holders of MSFT stock. In April 2019, Microsoft reached a trillion-dollar market cap, becoming the third public U.S. company to be valued at over $1 trillion.
Microsoft Layoffs Announced for the Fifth Month in a Row
It also bears mentioning that the drive for efficiency and growth does not appear to stem from a place of combating business struggles. Microsoft reported its quarterly revenue results for the last part of its 2025 fiscal year in June, and they were certainly impressive. With $76.4 billion in revenue and $27.2 billion in profit, the company’s financial performance has been nothing short of impressive, making the cuts all the more telling for employees. “Embrace, extend, and extinguish” (EEE),338 also known as “embrace, extend, and exterminate,”339 is a phrase that the U.S.
Quickly design anything for you and your family—birthday cards, school flyers, budgets, social posts, videos, and more—no graphic design experience needed.
- Empower your organization with Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat that supercharges productivity, sparks creativity, and keeps your data protected with enterprise data protection.
- Regular updates, town hall meetings, and clear explanations of the company agenda and strategic direction can help maintain trust to some degree, but the impact is considerable nonetheless.
- First, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Amy Coleman says the AI era is making the company move faster than ever, and with that comes changes to how the tech giant hopes to capitalize on said momentum.
- Microsoft 365 empowers your organization to organize, and safely store files in OneDrive with intuitive and easy organizational tools.
Why Are Microsoft’s Ongoing Layoffs So Noteworthy?
First, Microsoft’s Executive Vice President and Chief People Officer Amy Coleman says the AI era is making the company move faster than ever, and with that comes changes to how the tech giant hopes to capitalize on said momentum. REDMOND, Wash. – Microsoft is changing their hybrid work schedule expectations beginning early next year. Explore learning tools to collaborate on projects together and independently, all in one place. Spark creativity and collaboration in any learning environment with a variety of Microsoft 365 apps and free templates to choose from. Your files and memories are secure in the cloud with 5GB of storage for free and 1TB with a paid Microsoft 365 subscription.
From LinkedIn to Xbox, each segment of the company’s business has been affected by layoffs https://traderoom.info/fortfs-overview/ in 2025. Microsoft’s job cuts have been linked to its AI ambitions, with an investment of $80 billion announced for 2025. The number of cuts mentioned in filings for June and August was far smaller, but the impact on employees has been consistently harsh. The Redmond job cuts at Microsoft appear targeted at fields like product management, engineering, and legal teams, so they are sufficiently spread out and indicate a desire for additional efficiency. Criticism of Microsoft has followed various aspects of its products and business practices. Frequently criticized are the ease of use, robustness, and security of the company’s software.
Corporate culture
Will the company continue to thrive, or will we see cracks appear in the facade as employees grow weary of the conditions of work? Regular updates, town hall meetings, and clear explanations of the company agenda and strategic direction can help maintain trust to some degree, but the impact is considerable nonetheless. Microsoft’s recent three-day RTO policy came with the assurance that the move was not directed at encouraging headcount reductions. But this becomes harder to believe considering the current climate of Microsoft layoffs for the fifth month in a row. Layoff survivors face considerable guilt over the relief they feel at still having their jobs, and they remain under constant anxiety under the threat of additional layoffs.