Too much hiring during Covid
overspending on purchasing game studios
investing into AI infrastructure with nothing in return
reducing American workers, hiring offshore workers
moving from personal growth model to make profit fast model
Microsoft leadership has lost focus
TLDR - I got fired instead of laid off. big tech is the devil.
Using a new account as I don’t want to dox myself. I was fired by Microsoft last month, a week before bonuses were to be paid. My manager scheduled a call titled “rewards discussion” where I was expected to be told what percent bonus I’d be getting. I was on LITE (what MSFT calls PIP) the first half of the year but I was taken off this in my last review with stellar feedback where he told me (and documented) I’d accomplished everything asked of me including measurable impact. His manager had previously told me if I was able to get off of LITE I shouldn’t be worried about long term ramifications as it would demonstrate impact and commitment. So I was expecting I’d get maybe 60% of my bonus eligibility and figured there was a chance I might be laid off with severance given all the layoffs they continue to have. I had 26 years tenure with a company that was acquired by Microsoft in 2022, and per my employment contract this tenure would count for any severance calculations.
As it turned out not only was I not getting bonus but he told me in this rewards discussion that I was being let go and also would receive no severance, and I am banned from working for Microsoft for 2 years. Totally blindsided me and my access was cut off immediately so I didn’t even have the chance to contact colleagues I’d worked with for 26 years. He offered no further explanation. I was prepared for the potential of getting laid off, but not this. It’s at will employment so I’m not guaranteed anything and there doesn’t seem to be anything I can do. I did have a subsequent call with HR that I pushed hard for (they initially ignored me) where they explained the reason I was fired and wasn’t being given any bonus or severance was because my manager gave me a 0 for annual rewards indicating I’d had no impact. After spending the last 6 months killing myself to demonstrate the impact necessary to get off of LITE I feel totally betrayed. I am sure my management team did this in order to repurpose my budget for others on the team as I do think the feedback in my last evaluation was representative of my contribution.
I can’t understand why they would take me off LITE and give me positive feedback only to turn around and give me a 0. I also can’t understand how a single poor rewards score from a manager I’ve worked for under a year warrants no severance after 26 years of service. I am the sole provider for my family, have a kid in college and a mortgage, and as we were acquired it’s not like I have a ton of money in the bank from years of working at Microsoft. It will obviously take me some time to find a new job where I’ll have to start all over, and given the current job market who knows when that might be.
I can understand why people snap. They essentially lied to me, blindsided me, and left me hung out to dry. As far as I’m concerned they stole from me, their “valued” employee. It’s completely inhumane and unethical, and totally against their stated values. I have gone from respecting Satya Nadella and Amy Hood to seeing them as the embodiment of the devil himself. I would understand if they decided I wasn’t a good fit for the team and let me go with a bonus indicative of my impact and severance in-line with my tenure, but this is straight up evil and assuming many others have received the same treatment likely they are skirting having to report even more layoffs than they already have.
Videos
When Satya Nadella became the CEO of microsoft, it was believed he will be different. He himself told in interviews about the importance of empathy. Where has the empathy suddenly disappeared?
https://deepseeks.medium.com/how-are-microsofts-january-2025-layoffs-different-for-the-worst-aa454f061315
Why is Microsoft behaving like service based companies who do not value their employees. It has labelled many good employees as low performers and then fired. How will this affect their careers?
In the wake of another round of layoffs at Microsoft, it’s time to talk about something deeper than numbers: the human cost of toxic management.
Employees aren’t just being let go — many are being driven out by a culture of psychological pressure, unrealistic expectations, and emotionally manipulative leadership.
“Growth mindset” vs. Gaslighting
What’s often sold as high-performance culture masks deeply unhealthy management practices. Deadlines are weaponized. Feedback becomes intimidation. “Accountability” means blaming the most vulnerable.
Psychological Pressure is Not Leadership
Many managers are pushing their teams to burnout under the guise of “excellence.” This isn't just poor leadership — it's emotionally abusive. Employees report sleepless nights, anxiety, and a constant fear of retaliation for speaking up.
Layoffs as a Management Tool
Layoffs are no longer a last resort. They’ve become a tool to trim “low performers” and employees targeted, envied, or resented by management.
Mental Health Matters
We must stop normalizing environments that erode psychological safety. No paycheck is worth chronic stress and emotional manipulation.
#Microsoft #Layoffs #ToxicLeadership #MentalHealth #CorporateCulture #Burnout #TechIndustry
I need help understanding this article on Inc.
https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/microsofts-xbox-ceo-just-explained-why-the-company-is-laying-off-9000-people-its-not-great/91209841
Between May and now Microsoft laid off 15,000 employees, stating, mainly, that the focus now is on AI. Some skeptics I’ve been talking to are telling me that this is just an excuse, that the layoffs are simply Microsoft hiding other reasons behind “AI First”. Can this be true? Can Microsoft be, say, having revenue/financial problems and is trying to disguise those behind the “AI First” discourse?
Are they outsourcing heavily? Or is it true that AI is taking over those 15,000 jobs? The Xbox business must demand a lot and a lot of programming (as must also be the case with most of Microsoft businesses. Are those programming and software design/engineering jobs being taken over by AI?
What I can’t fathom is the possibility that there were 15,000 redundant jobs at the company and that they are now directing the money for those paychecks to pay for AI infrastructure and won’t feel the loss of thee productivity those 15,00 jobs brought to the table unless someone (or something) else is doing it.
Any Microsoft people here can explain, please?
I was in M365 Core working on the Copilot Data Platform team which basically is the infrastructure that Copilot runs and gets its data trained from.
I started in 2022 before Copilot or even ChatGPT were even a thing really and the company I started at vs the one that I ended with is like two completely different entities.
Before 2024, the growth chart for a SWE at the company was a lot more holisitic, focusing on growing through people skills, technical understanding and having my manager help me get to the next level. I managed to get to an L60 which is one off from SWE II, but right after I promoted the company shifted into this AI-driven mindset where the growth chart changed to start emphasizing performance metrics and throughput. The problem for me was that it was hard for me to find ways to actually improve these metrics because of our team was heavily DevOps focused with only a few people on my team working on features that could actually generate meaningful performance metrics.
Every single 1:1 my manager was asking me how much I was using the AI tools we have at our disposal, how many PRs I was completing a week, how many PR reviews I was doing a week, and pushing me to do talks on my experiences using AI as a developer. My manager even acknowledged that a recurring complaint from our team was the amount that we don’t get to code stuff compared to DevOps related work which cannot be factored into PR metrics.
Looking back, it is crazy that once Copilot surfaced as a CLEAR cash cow for the company, they went into overdrive into this performance-based mindset.
I’m not writing this to bash on anyone or anything because I genuinely did enjoy my time there, but I’m not gonna act like Copilot/AI hasn’t shifted the company into a less holistic version of itself. The main thing I’m sad about is that I lost like $30k of stock that was part of my signing agreement and with how these financial reports are coming out that would have been so much damn money to sit on for the next 3-5 years since Microsoft is doing incredibly well from a business standpoint with no signs of slowing down.
https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsoft-to-lay-off-as-many-as-9000-employees-in-latest-round/
Microsoft is kicking off its fiscal year by laying off thousands of employees in the largest round of layoffs since 2023, the company confirmed Wednesday.
In an ongoing effort to streamline its workforce, Microsoft said that as much as 4%, or roughly 9,000, of the company’s employees could be affected by Wednesday’s layoffs. It’s unclear how many are based in Washington.
The move follows two waves of layoffs in May and June, which saw Microsoft fire more than 6,000 employees, almost 2,300 of whom were based in Washington.
Microsoft had over 228,000 employees worldwide as of June 2024.
Hey everyone want to share my layoff story, SDE-2 working with Microsoft till May 2025 and I got laid off during first round off layoffs (oh yeah there was one before July layoffs). Its my first layoff in my 6 years SDE career. My life turned upside down as I have so many things going on and to make matters worse I am on Employment Visa in the US and got so depressed for the first few weeks with no direction. Then I accepted for what it is and started giving interviews which is not fun and I am not at all interview ready and companies these days expect the candidates to be have every skill thats known to a human being :). I faced rejections back to back and I kept grinding leetcode and system design for 3 months which is 100 worth. After 3 months of consistent prep I recently landed job with another FAANG company which pays a lot ... I mean a lot better than what I got paid at Msft. If someone is laid off don't lose hope, Job market is tough but keep your heads down and put the consistent effort much better offers are waiting for you than your previous company.
I saw a rumor online that layoffs were starting May 12th for middle managers and May 13th for ICs. Anyone have any insight?
Update: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/13/microsoft-is-cutting-3percent-of-workers-across-the-software-company.html
So sorry to those impacted today. I was hoping these rumors weren’t true.
FIRING…even Satya’s DP might need this banner now.
Microsoft just cut about 6,000 roles
roughly 3 % of the company (May 13)
reason? fewer managers, more builders.
the goal is to pump cash and head-count straight into AI.
what it means for us:
– margins > headcount
– titles fade, skills don’t
– layoffs ≠ failure.
sometimes life just says: reboot.today’s banner: FIRINGtomorrow: EXIT MODEsoon: REBOOTING
My husband was laid off this week after 25 years at Microsoft. He was randomly selected by an algorithm, despite no performance issues, no bad reviews, and a long record of exceptional work. His last day is May 16 — his 48th birthday.
He deals with Asperger’s and has multiple sclerosis. Despite these challenges, he has worked 60+ hour weeks for 25 years. He’s taken on-call shifts during holidays so teammates with kids didn’t have to. He’s won multiple Ship It Awards, solved bugs that saved millions, and mentored hundreds — from interns to execs.
He never asked for raises or promotions. Rarely called in sick. Never spoke a bad word about Microsoft, even when bonuses were cut or his quiet office with a window was swapped to the more distracting open plan layout with shared desks. A few months ago, he received his 25-year crystal award. Now he’s gone.
I know this subreddit includes current and former employees. You may not know him personally, but I guarantee some of you know his name — he’s that kind of engineer. He would never speak up about this himself. But I couldn’t let him disappear quietly.
I don’t expect a miracle. I just wanted someone to know the kind of person Microsoft let go.
I started with Microsoft back in October. Now I’m hearing more rumors recently of extreme budget cuts & hiring freezes for the cloud & devices BUs. Anyone have any insight on what’s going on now? Also, is this normal for Microsoft?
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/02/microsoft-laying-off-about-9000-employees-in-latest-round-of-cuts.html
👀
News Article: https://www.businessinsider.com/microsoft-layoffs-hit-security-devices-sales-gaming-2025-1
Seems to be not performance based. Meta is doing it too. Are we doing a re-run of 2023?
Microsoft is laying off employees across organizations including security, experiences and devices, sales, and gaming, according to two people familiar with the matter. A Microsoft spokesperson said the layoffs are small but did not specify a figure and unrelated to the job cuts Business Insider recently reported targeting underperforming employees across the company. One of the people familiar with the matter said employees started receiving notifications Tuesday about layoffs in Microsoft's security unit. The group is run by Charlie Bell, a former top cloud executive at Amazon, who stunned the industry when he left for Microsoft in 2021 to lead arevamped cybersecurity effort. Microsoft expanded its Secure Future Initiative last year, making security the top priority for every employee. The change followed years of security issues at Microsoft, including what the Department of Homeland Security called "a cascade of security failures" that allowed Chinese hackers to access emails from thousands of customers. The company also made security a core priority on which employees are evaluated during performance reviews. "If you're faced with the tradeoff between security and another priority, your answer is clear: Do security." Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote in an email to Microsoft employees last year.