On October 26, 2026, Microsoft offered voluntary buyouts to about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of the company. The same day, the Dutch government announced plans to cut about 25,000 central government jobs by 2035, leaning on AI.
That doesn't mean 85,000 people lose their jobs tomorrow. Microsoft is only offering an exit, and the Dutch plan runs over a decade. But both moves show where the money is going and where employers look for savings first.
What Microsoft offered
According to Fortune and TechCrunch, which Microsoft confirmed the offer to:
- it covers staff up to vice president level in the US, UK, Canada and India;
- Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance teams are included, while sales, marketing and data centers are excluded;
- in the US, the minimum is eight weeks' pay, plus continued stock vesting, health care and career support;
- employees must decide by the first week of December, with a last day of December 31.
In a note to staff explaining the program, chief people officer Amy Coleman said it gives those considering a future outside the company "a new choice".
The driver is AI spending. In the quarter ending June alone, Microsoft spent $41 billion on equipment and data centers. Headcount was about 223,000 in June, down 5,000 from a year earlier, after more than 15,000 layoffs in 2025 and about 4,800 cuts in July 2026.
How many people will actually leave
Nobody knows yet, but you can estimate it. A Microsoft spokesperson pointed to similar programs at other companies where 3% to 5% accepted, per Fortune. Out of 60,000, that's roughly 1,800 to 3,000 people.
There's a second benchmark, though. In the spring, Microsoft offered retirement buyouts to about 8,750 long-tenured staff, and more than 30% accepted, according to TechCrunch. If uptake gets anywhere near that, it's up to 18,000 people, not a few thousand. The range is huge, and that's the honest answer: employees decide by December.
What the Netherlands decided
The Dutch government wants to cut about 25,000 central government jobs by 2035, around 16%, as reported by Gulf News and The Edge, citing a cabinet statement.
- Savings: €900 million a year by 2027, rising to €3.5 billion a year from 2035.
- Police and defence are exempt. Some departments could see cuts of 45% to 60%.
- Central government staffing hit a record 160,000 at the end of 2025, up 41% from 2018.
- A detailed plan for how AI will take over some work is due in early 2027.
Eric van der Burg, the state secretary responsible for government efficiency, said: "We cannot keep doing what we have been doing."
What it means for you
Both stories point the same way: cuts target whole functions heavy on routine, not individual "underperformers". Back-office work, finance, admin and paperwork go first, while sales and customer-facing roles are protected for now.
Editorial view: AI is more the occasion than the only cause. Microsoft is saving to pay for data centers, and the Netherlands is trimming a civil service that grew 41% in seven years. Still, the practical takeaway is real: know which parts of your job repeat every day, because that's what gets automated first. We break it down in which jobs AI is taking first.
