Meta joins Microsoft and Google in offering employees voluntary exit packages

Meta has reportedly joined Microsoft and Google in offering employees voluntary exit options as major technology companies restructure their workforces amid rising investment in artificial intelligence. The proposed programme could affect around 100 employees at Meta's French operations.

According to French publication La Lettre, the Mark Zuckerberg-led company is negotiating a voluntary departure scheme for employees in France. Meta has approximately 300 employees in the country, although the specific roles covered by the proposal remain unclear.

The reported move signals another shift in how technology companies are managing workforce reductions, with voluntary departures and buyout programmes emerging alongside conventional layoffs.

Meta's voluntary exit plan in France

According to La Lettre, Meta is negotiating a collective contractual termination procedure in France, known locally as rupture conventionnelle collective (RCC). The mechanism allows companies to negotiate voluntary workforce reductions with trade unions rather than relying solely on individual departure offers.

The proposed arrangement differs from the programmes announced by Microsoft and Google, which offer eligible employees individual options to leave. Under the French procedure, Meta's plan requires a collective agreement with employee representatives.

Meta reportedly has around 300 employees in France, with approximately 100 potentially affected by the proposal. The roles covered by the arrangement have not been disclosed, and the company has not announced similar plans for other markets.

Employees interested in the proposed scheme were reportedly required to submit applications by 5 November. Meta has not confirmed whether the programme will extend beyond its French operations.

What Meta's proposed severance package includes

The negotiations for the collective departure arrangement reportedly began in July, with the proposed terms including financial compensation and career transition support.

According to La Lettre, the proposed package includes:

• Severance pay: 2.15 months of salary for every year of service.

• Mobility leave: Ten months of leave paid at 80 per cent of an employee's gross salary.

• Career transition support: Assistance with professional retraining or setting up a business is also reportedly under consideration.

These figures represent proposed terms rather than a confirmed final agreement. The actual departures and benefits will depend on the outcome of negotiations.

Meta has previously used a similar arrangement in France. In 2023, a collective departure agreement was expected to result in 88 employees leaving the company's French subsidiary, which then had approximately 350 workers.

Microsoft and Google expand voluntary departure programmes

Meta's reported proposal comes as other major technology companies offer voluntary exit arrangements while reviewing workforce requirements and investment priorities.

Microsoft announced a Voluntary Exit Offer on 26 October for eligible employees in participating organisations across the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and India.

The company said the programme would give eligible employees considering opportunities outside Microsoft financial support and career planning resources. Participation depends on business priorities, customer commitments and workforce requirements, rather than applying uniformly across the company.

The offer could cover around 60,000 employees, according to reports, although this represents potential eligibility rather than the number expected to leave. The programme is available to eligible employees at internal job level 70 and below within participating organisations.

Google, meanwhile, expanded its voluntary buyout programme to selected employees in five countries: Canada, France, Germany, Japan and Switzerland.

In a statement to Reuters, Google confirmed that some teams introduced voluntary exit programmes in 2025 before the company expanded the initiative internationally in June 2026. The number of employees accepting the latest offers remains undisclosed.

Reuters reported that employees in Switzerland who accepted Google's offer received one month's salary for every year of service, capped at 12 months. The terms may differ across countries and employee groups.

AI investment and workforce restructuring

The growing use of voluntary departure programmes coincides with significant investment in artificial intelligence, cloud infrastructure and other technology priorities.

Meta has also been reshaping its workforce as it increases spending on AI infrastructure and products. The company announced plans in April to eliminate approximately 8,000 positions, representing around 10 per cent of its workforce, according to reports.

In May, Meta also decided to reassign around 7,000 employees to functions connected with artificial intelligence. Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has previously said AI tools could allow smaller teams to complete projects that once required substantially larger groups.

Meta has projected capital expenditure of $135 billion to $145 billion for 2026, largely directed towards data centres and digital infrastructure.

The latest reported French proposal adds another dimension to this restructuring, with voluntary departures offering an alternative to direct redundancies. Whether similar arrangements emerge in other markets will depend on individual companies' workforce priorities and local employment regulations.