It looks like Microsoft Corp.  is getting ready to make up a mass layoff of unknown proportions. The company is rumored to have laid of several hundred workers, though for now the exact amount of the job cuts have not been defined by the company.

Since the reports circulating do say that the layoffs are set to impact several hundred workers we do know that it is set to be a mass layoff. For those of you who are not familiar with the idea of a mass layoff action here is a look at how the federal government defines the term, “The Mass Layoff Statistics (MLS) program collects reports on mass layoff actions that result in workers being separated from their jobs. Monthly mass layoff numbers are from establishments which have at least 50 initial claims for unemployment insurance (UI) filed against them during a 5-week period. Extended mass layoff numbers (issued quarterly) are from a subset of such establishments—where private sector nonfarm employers indicate that 50 or more workers were separated from their jobs for at least 31 days.”

Sadly, since the company is not giving out anything in the way of information about the layoffs we do know much more about the job cuts, including when they are set to happen, what locations are being most heavily impacted and what kind of positions will be cut. According to the information that is circulating the job cuts will come from advertising sales, but that is not set in stone.

Of course this is not the first time that Microsoft has turned to layoffs in order to trim the budget. For those of you who missed out on the layoff coverage in February here is an excerpt that will get you up to speed in not time at all, “If this round of layoffs is anything like the companies previous round these layoffs will not be small. Some of you may recall that about three years ago the company let go of about 5,000 jobs in order to make ends meet…. The jobs cuts are part of a larger restructuring effort in the company. That effort is being led by Microsoft’s chief marketing officer Chris Capossela. At the current moment we do not have a specific number of how many people will be out of a job the folks over at Geek Wire, the only ones with solid information at the current moment, are estimating that the job losses will be about 200 jobs.”

Before that the company let go of workers in 2012. Here is an excerpt from that coverage, “While the company has not yet confirmed a round of layoffs, tech blogs are abuzz with news that Redmond, Washington-based software giant Microsoft is shedding jobs in its Central Marketing Group and Enterprise Partner Group. Microsoft-watchers are taking great interest in the job cuts as Microsoft laid off 5,000 employees last year. The latest round, however, does not appear to be nearly as severe — numbering in the hundreds rather than the thousands.”