When a layoff email lands in your inbox after 14 years at one of the world's biggest tech companies, most people would panic. But for Deborah Hendersen, a longtime Microsoft employee, that email didn't sting, it felt like freedom.“The moment I got that email, I wasn't devastated, I was relieved,” she told Business Insider.

At 45, Hendersen had spent over a decade at Microsoft's Xbox division, watching it transform from what she once called a“country club for smart, creative people” into a high-stress, corporate pressure cooker. By the time her layoff came, she says,“it was a relief to finally step off the treadmill.”

A Culture Shift Inside Microsoft

Microsoft's workplace culture was once the envy of Silicon Valley, flexible, innovative, and people-focused. But according to Hendersen and several other former employees, things changed dramatically in recent years.

“It stopped feeling like a community and started feeling like a contest,” said another ex-employee.

Hendersen was among 9,000 employees let go in July 2025, part of a larger wave that saw nearly 15,000 Microsoft jobs vanish in one year. The company described the move as a way to“simplify operations,” but many insiders saw it as another sign that AI-driven restructuring was coming for everyone.

“It wasn't like watching a car crash,” Hendersen said.“It was like being in the car, knowing it was going to crash.”

Relief Over Fear

Unlike many who dread layoffs, Hendersen said she felt grateful - not because she wanted to leave Microsoft, but because she no longer had to live in fear of the next round of cuts.

“Every day felt like walking on eggshells,” she explained.“It didn't matter how good you were - nobody felt safe.”

That fear, she says, had replaced creativity and collaboration - the very values that drew her to Microsoft in the first place.

AI, Restructuring, and the“Great Flattening”

Microsoft has justified its layoffs as part of an internal“flattening” - reducing management layers to stay lean and agile in the AI age. But critics argue that AI efficiency has come at a human cost.

“When employees start celebrating layoff emails,” one former program manager told Business Insider,“you know something's broken.”

Many tech workers now see these cuts as the new normal, a shift that has turned job security into a luxury, even at the world's most powerful companies.

Freedom After the Fall

For Hendersen, the feeling of happiness wasn't about starting over - it was about reclaiming balance.

“It's funny,” she said.“I joined Microsoft because it felt like the future. I left because I wanted my life back.”

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