Microsoft (MSFT.US) has temporarily halted new employee recruitment for its consulting division in the United States and made a small number of layoffs to reduce costs.

According to a leaked internal memo, Microsoft (MSFT.US) plans to stop hiring for some of its consulting business in the US.

The memo stated that the freeze was expected to last for the rest of the current fiscal year, which ends in June. Derek Danois, a consulting unit executive, instructed the unit to pause hiring new employees and filling open positions to cut costs. The memo also asked employees to reduce travel expenses. The unit also planned to cut 35% of its marketing and non-billable external resources spending.

The consulting unit grew slower than Microsoft's productivity software subscriptions and Azure cloud computing business. The consulting unit's revenue in the September quarter was $1.9bn, down about 1% from a year ago, while Azure's revenue was 33%.

Another report said Microsoft planned to cut jobs in its security, experience and devices, gaming and sales units. A Microsoft spokesperson said the number of cuts would be small.

Last week, Microsoft revealed it would cut less than 1% of its employees across multiple departments, which equated to about 2,200 jobs.

Microsoft cut about 10,000 jobs in January 2023. It cut 1,900 jobs in January 2024, mainly in its gaming division, after completing its acquisition of Activision Blizzard.