Microsoft Implements 2-Year Rehire Ban For Underperforming Ex-Employees: Report
Quick Reads
Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed.
Microsoft has a new two-year rehire ban on underperforming employees now.
This policy categorizes such dismissals as good attrition to enhance efficiency.
The tech industry is moving toward stricter performance management policies.
Microsoft has implemented a stringent performance management policy, introducing a two-year rehire ban for employees dismissed due to underperformance, according to a report by Business Insider. These terminations are categorised as "good attrition", reflecting the company's intent to part ways with employees not meeting performance standards. This move aligns with a broader industry trend among tech giants like Meta and Amazon, which have adopted similar strategies to enhance workforce efficiency.
The company has also introduced a Performance Improvement Plan (PIP), offering employees a choice between engaging in a structured improvement process or accepting a voluntary separation package. Employees opting for the PIP and failing to meet expectations face termination and the subsequent two-year rehire ban.
These measures are part of Microsoft's efforts to foster a high-performance culture, emphasising accountability and aligning with its strategic goals in artificial intelligence and cloud services. The company aims to ensure that its workforce comprises high-performing individuals capable of driving innovation and maintaining a competitive advantage in the tech industry.
According to a Business Insider report, overall, the industry is shifting toward more rigorous performance expectations and less coddling. Performance-based cuts are becoming more common as tech companies get tougher on employees.
Earlier this year, Microsoft fired 2,000 employees deemed underperformers without severance and started a new performance improvement plan. A recent internal email sent to Microsoft managers, viewed by BI, said this new plan was "globally consistent" with "clear expectations and a timeline for improvement".
The process gives employees an option to enter the PIP or quit and accept a "Global Voluntary Separation Agreement", according to another email that BI viewed. Another document, also viewed by BI, shows the agreement includes a payout equal to 16 weeks' pay.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Economic Times
an hour ago
- Economic Times
Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, Intel and more: List of top US tech giants that have announced mass layoffs in 2025
Reuters Microsoft is not alone as the tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Microsoft recently announced its third round of layoffs and is preparing to eliminate thousands of jobs primarily targeting its sales division. The job cuts are expected to be announced in early July as the company continues restructuring amid massive AI investments, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft is not alone as the tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Intel says it planned to lay off 15% to 20% of workers in its Intel Foundry division starting in July. CrowdStrike announced a 5% workforce reduction last month. And Amazon CEO Andy Jassy just recently warned it will shrink its workforce in coming years due to a quote 'once-in-a-lifetime reinvention of everything we know", in a reference to generative AI. ALSO READ: Amazon's one-month deadline to US employees amid mass layoff fear: Resign in 60 days or... With AI reshaping some workforces, a number of companies have announced mass layoffs in 2025, following two years of significant job cuts across tech, media, finance, manufacturing, retail, and energy. Even though the reasons for sacking employees varies from one company to another, the cost-cutting measures are coming amid technological change, according to a Business Insider report.-Intel: Intel is preparing to sack between 15% and 20% of its Intel Foundry workforce beginning in July, marking one of the largest job cuts in the semiconductor giant's history. The layoffs are expected to affect more than 10,000 employees worldwide, representing roughly one-fifth of the company's manufacturing division. Unlike in prior layoff rounds, Intel will forgo voluntary buyouts and early retirement options, instead choosing employees for dismissal based on performance reviews and alignment with strategic investment priorities across its global manufacturing network. -Crowdstrike: Crowdstrike, the cybersecurity company that became a household name after causing a massive global IT outage last year has announced it will cut 5% of its workforce in part due to 'AI efficiency'. In a note to staff earlier this week, released in stock market filings in the US, CrowdStrike's chief executive, George Kurtz, announced that 500 positions, or 5% of its workforce, would be cut globally, citing AI efficiencies created in the business. ALSO READ: 16 billion passwords leaked in largest data breach ever: Check tips to protect your Facebook, Instagram accounts -Amazon: The boss of Amazon has told white collar staff at the e-commerce company their jobs could be taken by artificial intelligence in the next few years. Andrew Jassy told employees that AI agents – tools that carry out tasks autonomously – and generative AI systems such as chatbots would require fewer employees in certain areas. 'We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs. 'It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce.'-Block: Jack Dorsey's fintech company, Block, is laying off nearly 1,000 employees, according to TechCrunch and The Guardian, in its second major workforce reduction in just over a year. The company, which operates Square, Afterpay, CashApp, and Tidal, is transitioning nearly 200 managers into non-management roles and closing almost 800 open positions, according to an email obtained by TechCrunch. -Meta: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed employees in an internal memo, obtained by BI in January, that he had "decided to raise the bar on performance management" and would move swiftly to "exit low-performers." Layoffs began in February, records reviewed by BI show, with significant reductions affecting teams managing Facebook, the Horizon VR platform, and logistics. In April, Meta also implemented further layoffs within its Reality Labs division, though the exact number of job cuts was not disclosed. Previously, the company had laid off more than 21,000 workers since 2022. ALSO READ: 6 times in one post: Trump brings up Nobel Peace Prize again and again -Microsoft: Microsoft cut an unspecified number of jobs in January based on employees' performance. Workers were told that they wouldn't receive severance and that their benefits, such as medical insurance, would stop immediately, BI reported. The company also laid off some employees in January at divisions including gaming and sales. -Walmart: On May 21, Reuters reported that Walmart plans to cut approximately 1,500 jobs as part of a broader effort to streamline its operations. The layoffs will impact teams across global technology, operations, U.S. e-commerce fulfillment, and Walmart Connect, the company's advertising division. With a workforce of about 1.6 million employees, Walmart remains the largest private employer in the United States. In a May 15 interview with CNBC, CFO John David Rainey said customers can expect price hikes at the beginning of summer due to the impact of tariffs. (With agency inputs)
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
How Bill Gates and Melinda Gates reacted 'very differently' when their daughter announced her startup
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates ' daughter Phoebe Gates launched an ecommerce app earlier this year. Phoebe co-founded the e-commerce app Phia with her former Stanford roommate Sophia Kianni. The platform uses AI to help users compare prices of new and second-hand products across more than 40,000 websites. A web browser/app, Phia aims to be the of fashion, offering an instant price comparison from thousands of e-commerce sites for any item, new or used. Phoebe Gates is the youngest child of Bill Gates and his ex-wife, Melinda French Gates. When she told her father that she and Ms. Kianni wanted to get into the e-commerce space, his reaction, he said, was 'Wow, a lot of people have tried, and there's some big guys in there.' However, he was reportedly worried she might ask for money. In an interview published by the New York Times, soon after Phia's web browser and app went live, Gates said: 'I thought, 'Oh boy, she's going to come and ask.' 'I would have kept her on a short leash and be doing business reviews, which I would have found tricky,' the businessman explained of his hesitance. 'And I probably would have been overly nice but wondered if it was the right thing to do.' by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Memperdagangkan CFD Emas dengan salah satu spread terendah? IC Markets Mendaftar Undo Bill Gates: Phoebe is the most different than I am Her mother Melinda Gates , who Phoebe calls her 'rock,' told her she had to raise the capital on her own. 'She saw it as a real opportunity for me to, like, learn and fail,' she said. Talking further about Phoebe, Gates said that among all her children, she is 'the most different than I am". "Because she's so good with people. When we would go on family vacations, we would find some part of the beach to just be off on our own, and Phoebe would go down the beach and meet people and bring them back to introduce them to us,' Gates explained. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Starmer Faces Brewing Rebellion Over £5 Billion Benefit Cut
(Bloomberg) -- UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is less than 10 days away from the biggest parliamentary challenge to his authority in his not-yet year-long tenure. Unpopular cuts to disability benefits unveiled earlier this year as part of Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves' efforts to balance the country's books are due before the House of Commons for their first vote on July 1, with a large-scale rebellion brewing on the Labour back benches. So far, at least 150 of the governing party's Members of Parliament have indicated concerns about the cuts in two letters to the government. Other non-signatories have told Bloomberg they also intend to vote against the bill. While Starmer's attention this week was centered on the escalating tensions in the Middle East, the domestic threat was laid bare on Thursday when Vicky Foxcroft, a government whip who would have been tasked with helping quell the revolt, quit, citing her own objections. The rebellion threatens to bruise Starmer's and Reeves' credibility and further damage their stock with the left of their party. In order to avoid falling to what would be an unprecedented defeat for a government enjoying such a large majority so early in its tenure, ministers could at worst be forced into major concessions that reduce the bill's expected cost savings, forcing the Treasury to conjure up money from other cuts or tax rises at the budget in the fall. 'It's a test of Starmer's authority and the way he and Rachel Reeves are running the economy,' Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University London, said in a phone interview. 'If the rebellion is too big, you start to run into questions about the loyalty of your backbenchers and even perhaps the future of your leadership.' The welfare reforms allowed Reeves to save about £5 billion ($6.5 billion) a year by 2030 by making it harder for disabled people to claim a benefit called the personal independence payment, or PIP. The chancellor factored them into a spring statement as part of spending cuts designed to help meet her self-imposed fiscal rules. Reeves says the changes are necessary because an extra thousand people a day have been signing on for PIP, creating an 'unsustainable' impact on the public finances. PIP payments had been projected to almost double to £41 billion by the end of the decade, within overall spending on disability and incapacity benefits that the Office for Budget Responsibility — the government's fiscal watchdog — sees rising to £100 billion from £65 billion last year. The government has also says there is a moral case for supporting people back into work. But Labour lawmakers are concerned the government announced changes in a rush to deliver savings, without thinking through the impact on vulnerable people. 'There are alternative and more compassionate ways to balance the books, rather than on the backs of disabled people,' one Labour backbencher, Debbie Abrahams, told the House of Commons. There are particular concerns about a new requirement for claimants to score four or above in one of the daily living components of the PIP assessment, meaning people who can't wash half their body or cook a meal will be denied the payments if they have no other impairments. One Labour MP describing the process as letting the OBR tail wag the government dog. Some 45 Labour MPs signed a public letter objecting to the measures, while another letter — arranged in secrecy so that even signatories couldn't see who they were joining — garnered 105 signatures and was sent to the chief whip. While some of the would-be rebels have indicated they could be swayed by the government whips, one of them told Bloomberg they are confident that more than 80 MPs will commit to voting against the government. Given Starmer's working majority is 165, if all opposition parties vote against the bill, it would take 83 Labour rebels to defeat the government. The main opposition Conservative Party is planning to vote against the changes, Danny Kruger, one of the party's work and pensions spokespeople, told parliament in May. Its reasons are different: the Tories argue the measures don't go far enough. One Labour MP told Bloomberg that concerned lawmakers plan to put forward a procedural challenge to the bill. While they don't expect the speaker to select that amendment for debate, the aim is to force further changes from the government, and organize would-be Labour rebels into a coherent group which could eventually vote down the bill. Many in Labour had been waiting to see the bill before making up their minds. When the text was published on Wednesday, the concessions to their concerns were minimal, largely amounting to a 13-week transition period for those losing their PIP. Foxcroft — the whip who had previously served for four years as Starmer's shadow disability minister in opposition — quit within hours of the publication, saying she didn't believe cutting the disability benefits should be part of the solution to tackling ballooning welfare costs. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said Friday that Foxcroft's resignation wasn't a sign of a major rebellion, while conceding that 'of course' there are dissenting voices on such a big reform. 'Vicky is the only front-bencher that I've had a conversation with about resigning,' she said. Nevertheless, many so-called 'red wall' Labour MPs in northern and central England face a tough decision. Health Equity North, a public health institute, found that all the places most affected financially by the PIP reforms are Labour constituencies in northern England. In several areas, the number of people affected by the welfare changes exceeds the Labour majority, meaning those MPs could see a crucial drop in support. The government is gearing up for a fight, indicating it will make no further concessions. On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner failed to rule out stripping the whip from Labour rebels, while government enforcers are warning MPs that their political career prospects will be ruined if they oppose the bill. Whips and wannabe rebels alike expect the potential revolt to be whittled down as July 1 approaches. Some opponents are weighing whether to abstain at the second reading and wait until the third reading to take a more decisive vote, as whips are encouraging them to do. 'I'd be amazed if he were defeated here,' Anand Menon, director of the UK in a Changing Europe think-tank, said. 'If the whips got a whiff they were going to get defeated, they'd give some concessions. The worst of all outcomes is to lose this.' More stories like this are available on
