Microsoft recently announced its plans to make performance-based job cuts across its departments, including the company’s security division. While the tech giant vaguely described the job cuts as performance-based, it didn’t categorically disclose the criteria and merits it’ll use to make the cuts.
While intricate details about Microsoft’s layoff strategy remain slim, an internal document exclusively obtained by Business Insider discloses some of the factors Microsoft managers consider when reviewing employees’ performance index, ultimately determining which employees it gets to retain.
The outlet indicated Microsoft leverages these documents to request retention bonuses for employees it can’t afford to lose. The documents often feature prompts with questions, including “What harm is done if the employee leaves Microsoft?” This way, the company can use stock or cash awards as incentives to retain employees.
Interestingly, the documents also feature a dedicated section highlighting an employee’s contributions to Microsoft’s AI efforts, as highlighted below:
“In the context of AI transformation as a key priority, please indicate if this individual is critical AI talent and share the risk to the AI initiative/s if talent is not retained,” the document asks Microsoft managers.
According to a source with close affiliations with Microsoft, the question was recently integrated into the performance evaluation and employee retention document. The source further disclosed that the question targets “a specific, large group inside Microsoft.” To this end, it remains to be seen if the tech giant will start using the question as part of its employee retention strategy for the entire company.
While speaking to Business Insider, a Microsoft spokesman indicated the company doesn’t have a central form for special stock and cash award requests. The spokesman clarified that different divisions within the company can select which fields to include in their forms depending on their goals.
Last year, a leaked Microsoft spreadsheet disclosed that the company handsomely pays AI-focused employees compared to their counterparts in the Azure and Cloud divisions. For context, an average AI software engineer is paid up to $377,611, which is $120,000 more than the average salary of an employee in the Azure division.
Microsoft has seemingly shifted focus to its AI efforts, transferring some employees from the Teams chat app umbrella to its AI department to assist with Copilot-themed projects.
