Market Data 
Microsoft is considering another round of job cuts that could come as soon as May, according to people familiar with the matter.
Leaders on some Microsoft teams are specifically discussing cuts to middle managers, and how to increase the ratio of coders versus non-coders on projects, the sources told Business Insider.
Some Microsoft organizations want to increase their “span of control,” or the number of employees who report to each manager, these people said.
The sources, who hold senior positions at the company, asked not to be identified discussing sensitive topics that are still in the planning stages. It’s unclear how many jobs will be cut, but one of the people said it was a significant portion of their team. A spokesperson for Microsoft declined to comment.
In the tech industry, there’s already a culling of middle managers underway. Amazon has been trying to increase the ratio of individual contributors to managers. And in December, CEO Sundar Pichai told staff that Google cut vice president and manager roles by 10% as part of an efficiency drive.
Inside Microsoft, the discussions focus on decreasing the “PM ratio” on some teams, which is the ratio of product managers or program managers to engineers.
Charlie Bell, Microsoft’s security boss, brought this concept from Amazon, where he was a cloud pioneer. There, it’s called the “Builder Ratio,” and tracks the ratio of software engineers to “non-builders,” such as program managers and project managers.
Microsoft is considering increasing these targets in some organizations. For example, Bell’s security organization right now is around 5.5 engineers to one PM, and his goal is to reach 10:1, according to a person familiar with Bell’s plans.
One of the people familiar with the matter said this ratio is basically a proxy for how many people code. Under discussion are not only cuts that would require managers to meet a certain budget, but to meet a specific team-based ratio, too, the person explained.
Earlier this year, Microsoft ousted about 2,000 employees it deemed low-performers.
The potential cuts coming in a month or so could also include lower performers. At least some Microsoft leaders are considering terminating those who received an “Impact 80” or lower score in performance reviews for two consecutive years, one of the people said.
Microsoft evaluates employees on a scale of 0 to 200 called the “ManageRewards slider.” Those ratings influence how much an employee receives in stock awards and cash bonuses.
The middle of the range is 100, while 0, 60, and 80 are lower performers and 120, 140, and 200 are higher performers. “Impact 80” gives employees 60% of their normal stock award and 80% of their maximum bonus.
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