Rumours of Silent Layoffs in Microsoft This Month (August 2026), PIPs and Global Voluntary Separation Agreement (GVSA), aka "Buyouts"
GVSA is back, at least according to these viral rumours from last week. In July 1 many people were "disposed of" at Microsoft (and no, they're nowhere near old) without the company calling these layoffs or counting them as such; it is an HR trick.
Another loophole is "contractor" (layoffs being a "non-renewal" or lack of extension of an existing contract).
The above speaks of the India development center (IDC), so Microsoft has indeed gotten so stringy that even low-paid staff is impacted. Will any investigative journalism follow or just shallow puff pieces and LLM trash from slopfarms? █