Ask HN: What was your severance package, if you recieved one?
Curious as to what's the range of severance packages within our industry.
I've been at my company (public) for 2+ years now and wonder what is acceptable as we're negotiating separation.
I've been at my company (public) for 2+ years now and wonder what is acceptable as we're negotiating separation.
If you started as an entry level or new grad developer, than 1-3 months is pretty common, and fair. If you were mid-level 3-5 years experience, than 1-4 months is not unreasonable depending on the reason for split. But remember, if they are terminating you for a specific cause they may give you zero to 2 weeks.
If you are senior or held one or more critical rolls during your time, than it is not unlikely they ask for some additional non-compete time or non-disclosure time, especially if you were privy to current R&D or other key company details. For that, they need to pay, and it should be reasonable to the time period they are requesting. That doesn't mean they'll pay you for 2 years, but I would be more likely to ask a professional compensation consultant or employment attorney for advice in this case if I wasn't sure. Remember, if you are being let go, the company's attorney or a fairly senior level HR person has been consulted so no harm in you getting advice too.
While generally not an issue in the engineering space, acceptance of a severance package in the U.S. (IANAL so double check your specific state) will prevent you from attaining unemployment benefits from the state. Again, fairly uncommon in engineering type roles as people are really mobile. However, I have had to let go of some people outside of engineering roles that took a severance and then filed for unemployment months later. They were quite upset when we challenged it and they were denied unemployment benefits. One of the primary reasons you are getting severance is to prevent the company's unemployment costs from rising.
What would your ballpark be for that? Not sure how much to negotiate for. I have more than a decade of experience, albeit not a manager.
I’d really suggest asking an employment attorney as they’ll have a good idea what the issue is worth. For example, let’s say you are a protected class and they discriminated against you. That claim and the cost to defend it costs X, if you ask for Y and agree not to pursue them further than you’ll be in good shape assuming Y is within reason to X. If they have a counter claim there would be a reduction in the total amount but still worth settling.
Hopefully that helps you some. Good luck! Sorry you had an issue, it sucks.
On the other hand, you don't want to push that too far. Don't burn bridges with any of the people involved by how you handle this.
As far as concrete estimates of what to ask for - I don't know.
Oddly enough, later in the year they made this incredibly stupid decision where they hired a lot of people and fired all them during the orientation week. Apparently those people got a really good severance package.
I read that it is common to get a month for every year you are employed with the company. I don't know if this actually works out for anyone. It never has me.
2 weeks was for a university job.
Yup, U.S.
At a multi-national, had to sign a NDA, 1/4 my annual salary.
At a smallish consultancy (it went bankrupt) 2 weeks pay six months later from the liquidators.
The problem is that most people think, hey I'm a hard worker and I'll never get laid off, so they don't prepare in advance contractually. Otherwise you take a big risk that you can just drop into another job.. That risk changes as you get older and with the market. People harp on unions all the time but this is something they do for its members.