- Microsoft plans to cut around 6,000 jobs, less than 3% of its global workforce.
- The cuts aim to reduce middle managers and increase coders versus non-coders as BI earlier reported.
- Tech industry trends show a shift toward fewer managers, as seen with Amazon and Google.
Microsoft plans to cut less than 3% of its global workforce, or around 6,000 employees, with notifications beginning May 13, the company confirmed.
A person familiar with the cuts said some affected employees will stay on the payroll for 60 days and will still be eligible for rewards and bonuses. Microsoft's spokesperson has yet to comment on or confirm these terms.
As Business Insider reported last month, these cuts are intended to reduce the number of middle managers and increase the ratio of coders versus non-coders on projects. Microsoft organizations want to increase their "span of control," or the number of employees who report to each manager. A spokesperson said these latest cuts are not performance-driven.
Across the tech industry, there's already a culling of middle managers underway. Amazon has been trying to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers. And in December, Google CEO Sundar Pichai told staff that the company cut vice president and manager roles by 10% as part of an efficiency drive.
Microsoft is also trying to decrease the "PM ratio" on some teams, which is the ratio of product managers or program managers to engineers.
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