The severance package is great!
I don’t think I would be upset (unless I was extremely passionate about a project I was working on)
I don’t think I would be upset (unless I was extremely passionate about a project I was working on)
Even worse, you might have to miss one contribution to your FATfire investment account to deal with the extra risk. Compounded, that missed contribution might mean you'll have to retire at 46 instead of 45.
How dare these companies treat these people this way. They took the massive risk of working for an already-successful company at $250K/yr with a $200K stock package, and now fat cat Drew Houston dares to leave them with just an abnormally large severance after they are no longer needed.
I realized though that I was probably going to be okay, and what I actually needed was some perspective.
Sometimes the contrast of "sarcasm" is the only way to shake you out of your bubble and give you that perspective.
I thought so too... that was 13 months ago.
I still am okay, but only by pure blind luck. And okay in a "rice and beans diet" way. The actual interview gauntlets are worse than my first job search.
And yes, luck = preparation x opportunity. But I was literally cold called by a founder. My experience spoke for itself, but it only helped me tread water instead of sink into the abyss. Sure didn't work the other hundreds of times I kept searching.
>Sometimes the contrast of "sarcasm" is the only way to shake you out of your bubble and give you that perspective.
Again, the guidelines
>Be kind. Don't be snarky. Converse curiously; don't cross-examine. Edit out swipes.
Assumptions are horrible on the internet because it only enrages those who do not fit your strawman. I did everything "right" and I end up laid off twice, draining all my savings and a bit of my stock, and being gaslighted for over a year when I could grab multiple offers in 3-4 months the last few job hunts.
I work in games, I'm not making 500k salaries and was well prepared for layoffs. but I was doing very well for myself. So it's tiring hearing people deride my decade of experience with "well maybe you weren't actually a good worker". I'm definitely not a 10x-er, never have been. But it's backwards hat I have more experience now and am desired less for my experience.
It's just bad times. The sooner we can accept that, the easier it'll be to come together and weather the storm. But with layoffs it seems like all the elitism comes out instead.
I don't agree. If you don't prepare at all for an interview, it shows. Aside from leetcode, it's also important to research the company.
My point is mainly that I might be upset if I were in that group that's laid off today. I don't want to prep leetcode for several weeks. It feels like a waste of time.
Looks like enough time to prepare, take a vacation, ect.
It really is a circus out there.
that's a function of how low the bar is in the US
I was laid off from a different company with access to 18 months of COBRA. Dropbox is offering a third of that. Lots of job searches take longer than 6 months, so the employees are going to be left high and dry right when they need it the most.
For the non-Americans, my COBRA expenses are about USD$2,000/month for me and my partner. I’m paying as much for healthcare as I am for rent. Even so, it’s still financially better to take COBRA than pay out of pocket for my prescriptions.
Plus, they're getting 16 weeks of salary. At $140k/yr, that's $2,692/wk. Lets say their severance starts next week. There's 8 weeks left in the year. So they'll get 8 weeks of pay in 2025. $2,692 * 8 = $21,538. So no, they won't qualify for Medicaid at all in 2025 if they make that much as a single person.
I'm just pushing back at the idea someone can go from making six figures and turn around and hop on Medicaid. It's not that simple. It should be IMO, but it isn't.
https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/individuals/Pages/Steps-to-Medi-Cal.... sez “Due to the high volume of new applications, the process is taking longer than normal”, and I have secondhand experience of six+ month wait times.
Expenses incurred during the coverage gap need additional approval for retroactive repayment, meaning you have to have the funds to pay upfront for however many months/years the sign-up process takes, then once your coverage starts you have to apply/wait/hope to be paid back for everything paid out-of-pocket which might just get denied: https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/forms/Forms/mc210a0907....
https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ebsa/about-ebsa/our-a...
"Q11: How long does COBRA coverage last? COBRA requires that continuation coverage extend from the date of the qualifying event for a limited period of 18 or 36 months. The length of time depends on the type of qualifying event that gave rise to the COBRA rights. A plan, however, may provide longer periods of coverage beyond the maximum period required by law."
If we're laying off 20% of the company, I'd expect the package to be somewhere in the 6-12 months range. To me, that would seem more fair, considering they are completely restructuring the whole company.
In the US luckily the job market is still quite dynamic (and extremely tight by historical standards) so only in an extreme scenario would someone with Dropbox on their resume need 12 months to find another job.
They might have to take a pay cut from a 99th percentile salary to a 96th percentile salary though. Rough, I know.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worker_Adjustment_and_Retraini...
When you are leaving on your own term yes.
When you are laid off you are technically still an employee for those 3 months but nowadays many companies will just tell you to not show up for security reason.