Following mass layoffs, Microsoft exec insists return to office mandate is “not about reducing headcount”
Microsoft have announced plans to roll out a policy which will mandate that staff return to working from the office at least three days per week, with a first phase of it set to come into force as of February 2026.
In a memo about the move shared by The Verge, Microsoft executive vice president and chief people officer Amy Coleman asserted that it’s “not about reducing headcount”. The mandate comes just a couple of months after the company’s mass layoffs which saw about 9,000 employees let go and several games cancelled. The bloodletting hasn’t stopped since that point either, with The Seattle Times reporting this week that Microsoft have laid off a further 42 employees, bringing the total to 15,000 since May.
“We’ve looked at how our teams work best, and the data is clear: when people work together in person more often, they thrive — they are more energized, empowered, and they deliver stronger results,” Coleman wrote in the memo about the proposed return to office. “As we build the AI products that will define this era, we need the kind of energy and momentum that comes from smart people working side by side, solving challenging problems together. With that in mind, we’re updating our flexible work expectations to three days a week in the office.” The Verge report that some teams at Microsoft might be expected to work from the office four or five days a week, and that some roles like consulting will be exempt.
It’s no surprise to read that the RTO mandate reflects the company’s wider plans for generative AI. Microsoft have been shovelling billions of dollars into AI tech over the course of this year, a move that definitely doesn’t have the potential to end terribly pretty soon. Back in July, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella spoke of the need for a “messy” organisational transformation to carry out Microsoft’s aims for genAI, while talking around the “incongruence” between the company’s vast profits and mass layoffs.
The Verge’s Tom Warren cites some Microsoft staff he spoke to last month as having agreed that this return to office mandate could be seen as a form of ‘soft’ or ‘stealth’ layoffs. This is something companies instituting return to office mandates have been accused of for a number of years now, with the logic being that in rescinding the option of full-time remote work, these businesses are making an effort to push certain staff towards leaving voluntarily.
Naturally, if you’re a worker facing a lengthy commute, a move to a different place in order to be able to go into the office while maintaining a decent work/life balance, or have a disability/condition and aren’t able to secure an exception, the word ‘voluntarily’ might be doing some heavy lifting there. Microsoft staff will reportedly be able to apply for an exception to this mandate by September 19th.
Clearly aiming to get out ahead of any accusations along those lines, Coleman wrote in her memo: “Importantly, this update is not about reducing headcount. It’s about working together in a way that enables us to meet our customers’ needs.”
We’ve reached out to the Communication Workers of America union, which have helped organise several of the unions that’ve been formed at game studios under the Microsoft/Xbox banner in recent years, for comment.
The proposed first phase of Microsoft’s proposed return to office mandate is set to only affect staff who live within 50 miles of Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington. The second and third phases set to follow with “other US locations” and then staff outside the US further down the line.
Aside from the job cuts, Microsoft have also recently faced protests over their links to the Israeli government, something you can read more about in this feature from Edwin.