Workplace Nightmares·
AFTER 25 YEARS AT MICROSOFT, THE LAYOFF CAME
After 25 years at Microsoft, the layoff came from a computer algorithm, and his last day is his 48th birthday
Was this cold, or just business?
Be one of the first to vote.
After 25 years at Microsoft, the layoff came from a computer algorithm, and his last day is his 48th birthday.
"My husband has worked for Microsoft for 25 years," the writer began. Then came the line that made the whole post hit like a blunt instrument: he was "randomly selected by a computer algorithm." No dramatic blow-up, no misconduct, no warning the writer described. Just a spreadsheet-like cut, landing on a man who had spent a quarter century inside the company.
His final day is this Friday, which also happens to be his 48th birthday.
The writer said he is autistic and has multiple sclerosis. She described him as "the most quietly loyal, brilliant person I've ever met." According to the post, he was the kind of employee who rarely called in sick, never missed a day of work, and routinely put in 60-plus hours a week. When the holidays rolled around, he took on-call shifts during Christmas and Thanksgiving so coworkers with children could be home.
He never chased the usual career milestones. He didn't ask for raises or promotions. He just kept, in the writer's words, "showing up and solving impossible problems."
That work got noticed. He won awards for fixing multi-million-dollar bugs. He mentored hundreds of coworkers, including people who later went on to lead teams and entire divisions. Even the CEOs, the post said, knew his name.
A few months ago, he received his 25-year crystal, the token marking a long career at the company. Now, he is being walked out.
The contrast is what stings: the man who spent decades keeping systems running, who filled in on the holidays, who built a reputation for fixing the problems nobody else could untangle, was ended by an algorithm and given a birthday exit.
The writer said he would be embarrassed to know she wrote about him. Still, she wanted someone to hear it.
Not for pity, she said. Just so somebody would know what "this world does to the people who give it everything, quietly, consistently, and without ever asking for more."