New Delhi, Oct. 30 -- Microsoft's decision to offer voluntary buyouts to around 60,000 employees across India, the US, the UK and Canada has brought employee rights and legal protections during workforce restructuring into focus.

The technology giant is looking to reduce costs and restructure its workforce as it adapts to the artificial intelligence (AI) era. The programme will cover eligible employees at the vice-president level and below in participating teams across the four countries.

According to people familiar with the terms, divisions such as Xbox, Windows, Copilot and finance will participate in the programme. However, some employees working in data centres, sales, marketing, cybersecurity and quantum computing will be excluded...