该公司将向约6万名员工提供买断方案，这是公司削减成本并为人工智能时代重塑员工队伍的努力的一部分。
Corp. will offer buyouts to about 60,000 workers, part of the company’s efforts to trim costs and retool its workforce for the artificial intelligence era.
美国、加拿大、印度和英国部分团队中，副总裁级别及以下的员工有资格参与，一名微软发言人表示。包括部分专注于数据中心、销售和营销的员工群体在内的某些员工群体不符合资格，该发言人表示。
Personnel on select teams in the US, Canada, India and the UK at a vice president level and below will be eligible, said a Microsoft spokesperson. Certain pools of employees, including some focused on data centers, sales and marketing, aren’t eligible, the spokesperson said.
“此次方案为可能考虑离开公司的合格员工提供了在获得支持的情况下立即做出这一转变的新选择，”首席人力资源官艾米·科尔曼周一在给员工的备忘录中表示。员工将获得类似于标准遣散方案的福利，该发言人表示。
“This offer gives eligible employees who may be considering a future outside the company a new choice to make that transition now with support,” Chief People Officer Amy Coleman said in a note to workers Monday. Workers will receive benefits similar to a standard severance package, the spokesperson said.
作为全球最大的软件制造商，微软近年来已在多轮裁员中裁减了数万名员工。7月，它向达到退休年龄的员工提供了买断方案，约8750名合格人员中有超过30%接受了该方案。微软发言人表示，预计接受最新买断提案的人数将远少于自愿退休计划。
The world’s largest software maker has shed tens of thousands of workers in waves of layoffs in recent years. In July, it offered buyouts to retirement-age employees, and more than 30% of the roughly 8,750 eligible people took the offer. Microsoft expects far fewer personnel to accept the latest buyout proposal compared with the voluntary retirement program, the spokesperson said.
截至6月底，微软的员工人数为22.3万人。自2022年以来，该数字基本持平，大约是微软开始大力投入人工智能和数据中心的时间，这挤压了公司其他部门的预算和招聘。
Microsoft’s headcount as of the end of June was 223,000. The figure has been largely flat since 2022, about the time Microsoft began spending heavily on AI and data centers — squeezing budgets and hiring elsewhere in the company.
其他公司也在将支出转向人工智能基础设施的同时寻求缩减员工人数。CNBC报道，谷歌去年在多个部门提供了自愿买断方案。Meta Platforms Inc.的员工人数已从2022年底的高峰下降了2万多人。两家公司都是数据中心基础设施的最大支出者之一。
Other companies have sought to shrink headcount as they redirect spending to AI infrastructure. Google offered voluntary buyouts in a number of units last year, CNBC reported. Meta Platforms Inc.’s headcount is down by more than 20,000 from a late 2022 peak. Both are among the biggest spenders on data center infrastructure.
微软发言人表示，公司希望员工投身于其试图解决的艰难问题。这与其他科技老板的说法一致，他们已公开表明，继续受雇意味着要接受更快的工作节奏和变化。
The Microsoft spokesperson said the company wants employees who are engaged on the hard problems it’s trying to solve. That echoes other tech bosses, who’ve publicly made clear that continued employment means embracing a faster pace of work and change.
2022年，埃隆·马斯克曾以“极度硬核”还是接受遣散费为由，向Twitter员工发出著名的最后通牒。今年早些时候，《商业内幕》报道称，一位谷歌高管告诉其部门员工，那些不“全力以赴”投入AI工作的人可以申请自愿离职买断方案。
Elon Musk in 2022 famously gave Twitter employees the choice to be “extremely hardcore,” or take a severance payment. Earlier this year, Business Insider reported that a Google executive told employees in his organization that those who weren’t “all in” on AI could have a voluntary buyout package.
员工在决定是否接受买断方案时，通常会评估自己的积蓄以及日后面临裁员的风险。中年职场人士还会考虑就业市场行情、找到新工作可能需要多长时间，或者买断方案提供的资金是否足以支撑他们完成职业转型。买断方案通常面向资历更深、成本更高的员工——如微软此轮提前退休提议所示——且条件比裁员更优厚。
Workers deciding whether to take a buyout typically assess their savings and whether they’re at risk of layoffs later. Midcareer professionals also consider the job market and how long it might take them to find a new role, or whether the package gives them enough runway to make a pivot. Buyouts typically go to more senior, higher-cost staff, as with Microsoft’s round of early retirement offers, and offer more generous terms than a layoff.
发言人表示，在某些情况下，如果员工选择接受买断提议，微软会尝试挽留顶尖人才。
In some cases, Microsoft will try to retain top talent if employees opt to take the buyout offer, the spokesperson said.
科尔曼在备忘录中写道，买断方案为微软各部门提供了“另一种适应不断变化需求、调整员工队伍的方式”。
The buyouts give Microsoft units “another way to adapt their workforce to changing needs,” Coleman wrote in the memo.