In June 2023, Microsoft concluded its fiscal year with a global workforce of 221,000 employees, marking a significant decline from its peak of 232,000 employees six months earlier in December 2022. This drop accounts for nearly 5% of the company’s workforce, the most rapid employment decline in Microsoft’s history. Only last week, over 1,000 employees were axed as the sales and customer service division underwent a transformation. The data was reported in the company’s annual 10K filings submitted to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
As reported by GeekWire, the decline is attributed to job cuts announced in January. This move mirrored similar cutbacks across the technology industry during that period. Comparing the latest 10K numbers to previous years’ reports, Microsoft chose not to provide detailed figures for the exact peak of employment in December 2022. However, the year-over-year comparison offers insight into the changes over the past year.
Despite the overall decline, Microsoft’s international employment experienced growth, increasing by 2,000 people and surpassing 100,000 for the first time. In contrast, U.S. employment decreased by 2,000 people to 120,000.
When analyzing specific employment categories, sales, and marketing roles saw the most significant year-over-year decline, dropping by about 2,000 people (4%) from June 2022 to June 2023, totaling 45,000 employees. Product research and development roles took a smaller hit, declining by about 1,000 people (a little over 1%) to 72,000 employees year-over-year.
On the other hand, employees in operations roles increased by 4,000 people (nearly 5%), reaching 89,000 employees. This makes operations roles the largest employment category within the company since 2020.
The company had previously disclosed its Seattle-area (Puget Sound region) employment figures on its Facts about Microsoft webpage. However, Microsoft has discontinued this practice in recent years, and updated regional numbers are yet to be released.
