SEATTLE — In January, Redmond-based Microsoft announced 10,000 layoffs worldwide.
The company has about 50,000 employees in Washington.
In a filing with the state at that time, the company disclosed plans to lay off 878 workers locally but did not give dates or locations.
On Friday, a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification for Microsoft — more commonly known as WARN — went to the state’s Employment Security Department. According to the notice, the Microsoft locations where workers will be laid off are in Redmond, Bellevue, and Issaquah.
The notice said 617 Microsoft employees will start being laid off on April 10.
The state says those workers are facing permanent layoffs.
The reason, according to a letter sent to employees by CEO Satya Nadella, is due to some customers not spending money on digital products like they did during the pandemic.
Bloomberg is reporting that the cuts will happen in certain units, including Microsoft Surface devices, HoloLens mixed reality hardware headsets, and GOGGLES and Xbox gaming systems.
Microsoft said that it is giving 60 days’ notice to workers who will be laid off and providing above-average severance pay and health benefits for six months.
An analyst that spoke to KIRO 7 this week, Co-Founder and CEO of Aisera Technology Muddu Sudhakar, said that his firm and others like it are actually hiring, in many cases.
He expressed hope that workers who lose their jobs won’t remain unemployed for long.
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