微软本周推出的庞大员工买断离职计划震惊了整个行业，引发了人们对这家软件巨头为何希望如此多人离职的紧急疑问。在公司内部，忧心忡忡的员工们纷纷讨论这一举措的含义。微软为什么会想要裁减6万名员工？岗位会被人工智能取代吗？未来还会有更多裁员吗？《商业内幕》在最近几天采访了微软内部人士，以探究到底发生了什么。受访者要求在讨论敏感问题时匿名。目前的主要结论是，微软似乎因为其买断离职方案的庞大体量而不必要地吓到了员工，导致高管们忙于安抚军心。
Microsoft's huge employee buyout stunned the industry this week, raising urgent questions about why the software giant might want so many people to leave. Inside the company, concerned staff debated the meaning of the move. Why might Microsoft want to shed 60,000 workers? Will roles be replaced by AI? Are more layoffs ahead? Business Insider spent recent days speaking with Microsoft insiders to find out what's really happening. The people asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. The main takeaway so far is that Microsoft seems to have unnecessarily spooked employees with the sheer size of its buyout offer, leaving leaders scrambling to calm the troops.
首席财务官艾米·胡德在一份内部备忘录中解释称，该方案旨在“为选择按自己的方式离开公司的员工提供自主权”，并表示公司预计“极少有人”会接受。微软随后进一步表示，预计有3000名或更少的员工会接受买断。这仅占符合条件人数的约5%甚至更少。今年早些时候，该公司曾根据年龄和工龄向员工提供了一项退休买断方案。
Chief Financial Officer Amy Hood in an internal memo explained the offer was intended to "offer employees agency if they choose to leave the company on their own terms" and said the company expected "very few people" to accept. Microsoft doubled down later and told Business Insider it anticipates 3,000 or fewer employees will take the buyout. That's only about 5%, or less, of those eligible. Earlier this year, the company offered a retirement buyout to employees based on age and tenure.
大约三分之一的人接受了。不久之后，微软进行了另一轮裁员。一些没有接受退休买断的员工最终失去了工作。这引发了人们的猜测，即在本周规模更大的买断方案出台后，可能会有更多裁员随之而来。“未来的劳动力需求将继续基于业务需求和优先事项，”微软在一份声明中表示。
About one-third accepted. Soon after, Microsoft did another round of layoffs. Some employees who didn't accept the retirement offer ended up losing their jobs. That's led to speculation that more layoffs may come in the wake of this week's bigger buyout offer. "Future workforce needs will continue to be based on business needs and priorities," Microsoft said in a statement.
《商业内幕》采访了微软高管，他们表示外界对当前的买断方案存在误解。这些高管只能就他们自己的团队发表意见，并且他们不愿绝对地说未来不会裁员。不过，他们指出了当前买断方案与退休买断方案的一些区别。“微软并不想缩减6万人，”一位要求匿名的化名高管表示，“我们并没有用人工智能取代所有人。”此人认为，微软推出最新的买断方案是因为一些员工抱怨他们不符合今年早些时候退休买断的资格。在退休买断的情况下，当员工离开时，微软并没有填补这些岗位——员工编制消失了。
Business Insider spoke to Microsoft executives who said there are misconceptions about the current buyout offer. These executives could only speak about their own teams, and they were hesitant to definitively say layoffs aren't coming. However, they pointed out a few differences between the current buyouts and the retirement offer. "Microsoft doesn't want to shrink by 60,000 people," one executive said, while asking not to be identified. "We are not replacing everyone with AI." This person thinks Microsoft made latest buyout offer because some employees complained that they weren't eligible for the retirement buyout earlier this year. And in the case of the retirement buyout, when employees left, Microsoft didn't fill those roles — the headcount went away.
本周的买断方案运作方式不同。在某些情况下，这次员工离开时，其岗位将由新招聘的人员工填补。最新买断方案看起来如此庞大的一个原因是：一些领导者决定，将其提供给整个组织会更简单，而不去试图挑选哪些特定的团队或个人应该被纳入其中。“将庞大的组织纳入其中更容易，”一位微软高管对《商业内幕》表示。
This week's buyout works differently. In some cases, when staff leave this time their roles will be backfilled with new hires. One reason the latest buyout looks so huge: Some leaders decided it would be simpler to offer it to their entire organization, rather than try to pick which specific teams or individuals should be included. "It's easier to opt-in giant organizations," one Microsoft executive told Business Insider.
知情人士透露，负责Copilot平台、AI智能体、Office和Word的高管查尔斯·拉曼纳决定将买断方案提供给他所在组织的所有人。这其中包括许多担任关键职位的员工。知情人士称，如果任何关键员工接受买断，该组织已准备好回填岗位。
Charles Lamanna, the executive in charge of the Copilot Platform, AI agents, Office and Word, decided to offer it to everyone in his organization, one of the people said. That includes many people in critical positions. The organization is prepared to backfill roles if any of those critical employees accept the buyout, this person said.
根据另一位微软高管的说法，微软的关键“云+人工智能”部门采取了略有不同的方法。两个团队——Azure硬件系统与基础设施团队以及云运营与创新团队——决定不向员工提供最新的买断方案。“云+人工智能”部门内的其他大多数小组确实向员工提供了买断。该高管对《商业内幕》表示，该部门可以回填一些岗位。
Microsoft's key Cloud + AI division took a slightly different approach, according to another executive from the company. Two teams — Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure and Cloud Operations + Innovation teams — decided not to offer the latest buyout to staff. Most other groups within the Cloud + AI division did offer the buyout to employees. And this division can backfill some roles, this executive told Business Insider.
回填岗位仍然可以帮助微软削减劳动力成本。公司的一位高管表示，如果一位资深人士离职，他们很可能会用薪酬可能较低的更年轻的员工来回填该岗位。微软发言人表示，这不是公司的官方立场。
Backfilling roles could still help Microsoft cut labor costs. One executive at the company said if a senior person were to leave, they would likely backfill the role with someone more junior who would potentially be paid less. A Microsoft spokesperson said that's not an official company position.
如果与裁员相比，这一切看起来过于复杂，那可能是有原因的：微软因在雇佣外国工人的同时削减美国员工而备受抨击。特朗普政府最近暂停了微软参与一项赞助外国工人获得永久居留权的联邦项目，指责该公司在解雇美国员工的同时聘用薪酬较低的外国工人。微软否认了这些指控。
If all this seems overly complex, compared to layoffs, there may be a reason: Microsoft has been under fire for cutting American staff while employing foreign workers. The Trump administration recently suspended Microsoft from a federal program that sponsors foreign workers for permanent residency, accusing the company of laying off American employees while hiring lower-paid foreign workers. Microsoft has denied those claims.
“永远不要说绝对不可能，但人们非常希望能避免大规模裁员，特别作为一家美国公司，”其中一位微软高管对《商业内幕》表示。
"Never say never, but there's a lot of desire not to do big layoffs, especially as an American company," one of the Microsoft executives told Business Insider.