Microsoft will seek voluntary retirement from about 60,000 employees, roughly 27% of its workforce, the company announced. Days later it reported quarterly profit of more than $36.6 billion, about 5.78 trillion yen, for the July-to-September quarter.
The cuts are not a response to weak earnings. Microsoft is shifting its center of gravity toward AI, and the voluntary departures are a way to change the mix of people it employs.
Japan is not exempt from the same logic. Of listed companies that solicited early or voluntary retirement between January and September 2026, 14 of 22 were profitable, according to Tokyo Shoko Research. That is more than 60%, or 63.6%, of the total.
Both the number of companies and the number of employees involved fell from a year earlier. Even so, restructuring while profitable is taking hold.
The morale problem left behind
One issue is easily overlooked: the morale of the employees who stay. Staff who feel they could be next have little reason to take on new challenges, and the strongest performers are the quickest to look for another job.
Employees offered the packages are not being singled out for poor ability. When a business changes direction, the expertise it needs changes with it.
That puts the burden of explanation on the organization. Why is the makeup of the workforce changing, what does it expect from those who remain, and how will reskilling into new roles be carried out? Solicit departures without answering those questions, and the employees who stay will drift away too.
The commentary is by a consultant who works inside companies to make targets all but certain to be met, and who has supported more than 200 firms, from NTT Docomo and SoftBank and Suntory to small and midsize businesses. He is the author of the "Absolute Achievement" book series, several volumes of which have been translated into Chinese, Korean and Taiwanese editions.