From Microsoft buyouts to appraisal cuts: Meet the four shades of layoffs

Layoffs don't always begin with a pink slip. Sometimes, they come as buyouts, appraisal worries or organisational changes. Here are four shades of job cuts and what they mean for employees navigating uncertainty.

In Short

• Microsoft offers voluntary buyouts to 60,000 employees in India, US, UK and Canada
• Buyouts provide financial support but require careful career considerations
• Qualcomm links layoffs to performance reviews, adding appraisal pressure

A job rarely feels uncertain until something makes it so. It could be an email arriving before sunrise, an appraisal meeting that takes an unexpected turn, or a message from HR asking an employee to consider leaving with a financial package. For some, the decision comes with a choice. For others, it is made for them.

Microsoft is offering voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 eligible employees across participating teams in India, the US, the UK and Canada, giving them the option to leave the company with financial support. The move comes as the technology giant continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure while adjusting its workforce to changing business needs.

Not all 60,000 employees will leave, and a voluntary exit is not the same as a compulsory layoff. But the offer brings a familiar workplace anxiety back into focus: what happens when a company decides it needs a different workforce?

From buyouts and early-morning termination emails to performance-linked job cuts and sweeping organisational changes, layoffs can take different forms. Each comes with its own set of decisions, uncertainties and consequences for the people caught in the middle. Here are four shades of layoffs every employee should understand.

SHADE 1: THE BUYOUT, WHEN YOUR EMPLOYER OFFERS YOU AN EXIT

Microsoft's latest voluntary exit programme puts employee buyouts in the spotlight. The offer covers eligible employees at internal level 70 and below in participating organisations, although not every team is included.

The initiative follows an earlier voluntary retirement programme that covered around 9,000 employees in the US. Microsoft also announced plans to cut 4,800 jobs in July as it restructured its Xbox gaming business.

The latest offer comes as Microsoft commits substantial resources to AI infrastructure, with forecast capital expenditure of $175 billion for 2026. The company says the programme gives eligible employees another option while helping participating organisations adapt their workforces to changing needs.

For employees, however, accepting a buyout is a major financial and career decision. The package must be weighed against future job prospects, benefits, financial commitments and the time it could take to find another role. A voluntary exit offers a degree of choice, but it does not make the decision straightforward.

SHADE 2: THE 6 AM EMAIL, WHEN THE DECISION IS ALREADY MADE

For some Oracle employees, the news arrived before the workday had begun.

In September, employees received early-morning termination emails stating that their positions had been eliminated as part of a broader organisational change. The message informed affected workers that the day would be their last working day and said details of their severance packages would follow.

Oracle did not publicly disclose the number of employees affected by that round.

Unlike a voluntary buyout, such a notification leaves employees little time to prepare for the immediate consequences of losing their jobs. Questions about severance, access to company systems, pending payments and the next job search can arrive all at once.

The episode also highlights another dimension of layoffs: how companies communicate the decision. Even when a business cites restructuring as the reason, the timing and manner of the announcement can make an already difficult transition more unsettling.

SHADE 3: THE APPRAISAL, WHEN YOUR PERFORMANCE IS UNDER SCRUTINY

Layoffs are not always explained through cost-cutting or the elimination of roles. Sometimes, companies explicitly bring employee performance into the discussion.

Qualcomm is preparing global job cuts following its annual employee reviews, with notifications expected to begin in November. CEO Cristiano Amon reportedly told employees that the exercise would help strengthen performance culture and address areas where employees had consistently fallen short of expectations.

The company is also considering business priorities, organisational needs and employees' skills when deciding which roles will be affected. Qualcomm has not disclosed the number of jobs it plans to cut.

The distinction between performance-focused layoffs and conventional job cuts matters. In a restructuring, a role may disappear regardless of how well the employee performs. In a performance-linked exercise, assessments may influence who stays, even if the role itself continues to exist.

A company's stated rationale should not automatically be taken as proof that every affected employee was an underperformer. For workers, the development adds another layer of pressure to appraisals, productivity targets and expectations around skills.

SHADE 4: THE RESTRUCTURING, WHEN THE RULES OF THE WORKPLACE CHANGES

Sometimes, the job cuts are part of a broader redesign of the business.

Adidas confirmed reductions in its India technology organisation as it sought to simplify parts of the business, strengthen critical capabilities and align its operating model with changing needs. In its report on Adidas' India Tech Hub, the company said the cuts affected less than 20% of its India technology organisation.

Adidas also said India remained strategically important and that it continued to invest in critical capabilities, with open roles across the organisation.

That distinction is important. Restructuring does not always mean a company is retreating from a market or abandoning a function. It can involve eliminating some roles while investing in others, changing reporting structures or moving resources towards different priorities.

For employees, however, the uncertainty remains real. A growing industry does not guarantee that every role within it will remain unchanged.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

These four shades of layoffs are not mutually exclusive. A company can restructure its organisation, reassess employee performance and offer voluntary exits as part of a wider workforce exercise.

What differs is how employees experience the decision: as a financial offer, a sudden termination, a performance review or a change in the organisation around them.

For workers, understanding that difference is essential. A buyout is not the same as a compulsory layoff, a performance improvement plan does not automatically mean termination, and restructuring does not necessarily mean every role is at risk.

The larger lesson is that job security depends not only on how an industry is performing, but also on the needs, priorities and decisions of individual employers. In today's workplace, knowing which kind of change is unfolding can be the first step towards preparing for what comes next.

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