4 ms·

Ask HN: What was your severance package, if you recieved one?

11 points by giampo 9y ago

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.

CyberFonic 9y ago
My 2 data points, both after 2-3 years of working there: 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.
- giampo 9y ago
  Thanks. In the first data point, do you mean you've received a lump sum? Was this in the US?
  - sjg007 9y ago
    You would get a lump sum that's taxed at 40%. Otherwise you can try to negotiate to be on the payroll for 4months + healthcare. Also if in the US ask for medical (COBRA) to be paid for.
    - giampo 9y ago
      Yeah my thinking is staying on payroll is better. I wanted COBRA too - I heard some places just 'reimburse' you.. All I want is to have my healthcare premiums paid. Did you ever get that?
      - sjg007 9y ago
        Nope I never have. But the best time is to negotiate for it is when you're hired. They are more likely to agree since they've already decided to hire you. At separation, they've already decided they don't want you so the only reason to offer it (besides being nice and humane) is b/c they'd be afraid of a lawsuit. Execs, VPs and some directors negotiate this in their hiring contracts as well. They call these golden parachutes. Some of the bigger companies have this stuff in their company handbook. This is what you might get by default e.g. 1 month for every year of employment etc... but it depends on the company. 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.
moocow01 9y ago
Every large corp Ive been at has been 2 months salary. This gets distributed as a lump sum sometime after signing whatever they want you to sign.
- giampo 9y ago
  large corp as in the apples and googles?
cm2012 9y ago
3 months salary
- giampo 9y ago
  thanks man
jason_slack 9y ago
At one job I received 2 months, at another job it was just 2 weeks. 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.
- giampo 9y ago
  what was the 2 months one? US?
  - jason_slack 9y ago
    2 months was for a database tech company. 2 weeks was for a university job. Yup, U.S.
davismwfl 9y ago
It depends on what the company is asking for in exchange for the severance and at what level you are at in the company. Assuming you have been there for say 3 years. 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.
- giampo 9y ago
  Thanks for the response man. In my situation it's actually mutual separation since they gave me shady treatment, borderline discrimination. 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.
  - AnimalMuppet 9y ago
    Well, if they realize that they gave you shady treatment, that gives you more leverage. 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.
apohn 9y ago
This is from medium sized US software company. As per standard employment contract, 1 week pay per year worked. It was more generous for managers, but that was the company being generous, not anything that was in the employment contract. It's not a company most people have heard of. 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.
- itronitron 9y ago
  I expect that part of the severance was agreeing not to participate in a class-action lawsuit...
  - giampo 9y ago
    You think the person that hired them is still there?
    - itronitron 9y ago
      no, probably not
    - apohn 9y ago
      With exception of one person (who left for a better job, not because they were fired), the executive management that enabled that stupid decision is still there. The people that did the actual hiring are mostly gone, but they were just pawns in that situation.
djellybeans 9y ago
The last severance package I got was one weeks' worth of compensation. They are an early stage startup, with about 15 employees and have existed for 3 years.

11 points by giampo 9y ago

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.

CyberFonic 9y ago

My 2 data points, both after 2-3 years of working there: 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.

giampo 9y ago
Thanks. In the first data point, do you mean you've received a lump sum? Was this in the US?
- sjg007 9y ago
  You would get a lump sum that's taxed at 40%. Otherwise you can try to negotiate to be on the payroll for 4months + healthcare. Also if in the US ask for medical (COBRA) to be paid for.
  - giampo 9y ago
    Yeah my thinking is staying on payroll is better. I wanted COBRA too - I heard some places just 'reimburse' you.. All I want is to have my healthcare premiums paid. Did you ever get that?
    - sjg007 9y ago
      Nope I never have. But the best time is to negotiate for it is when you're hired. They are more likely to agree since they've already decided to hire you. At separation, they've already decided they don't want you so the only reason to offer it (besides being nice and humane) is b/c they'd be afraid of a lawsuit. Execs, VPs and some directors negotiate this in their hiring contracts as well. They call these golden parachutes. Some of the bigger companies have this stuff in their company handbook. This is what you might get by default e.g. 1 month for every year of employment etc... but it depends on the company. 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.

moocow01 9y ago

Every large corp Ive been at has been 2 months salary. This gets distributed as a lump sum sometime after signing whatever they want you to sign.

giampo 9y ago
large corp as in the apples and googles?

cm2012 9y ago

3 months salary

giampo 9y ago
thanks man

jason_slack 9y ago

At one job I received 2 months, at another job it was just 2 weeks. 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.

giampo 9y ago
what was the 2 months one? US?
- jason_slack 9y ago
  2 months was for a database tech company. 2 weeks was for a university job. Yup, U.S.

davismwfl 9y ago

It depends on what the company is asking for in exchange for the severance and at what level you are at in the company. Assuming you have been there for say 3 years. 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.

giampo 9y ago
Thanks for the response man. In my situation it's actually mutual separation since they gave me shady treatment, borderline discrimination. 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.
- AnimalMuppet 9y ago
  Well, if they realize that they gave you shady treatment, that gives you more leverage. 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.

apohn 9y ago

This is from medium sized US software company. As per standard employment contract, 1 week pay per year worked. It was more generous for managers, but that was the company being generous, not anything that was in the employment contract. It's not a company most people have heard of. 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.

itronitron 9y ago
I expect that part of the severance was agreeing not to participate in a class-action lawsuit...
- giampo 9y ago
  You think the person that hired them is still there?
  - itronitron 9y ago
    no, probably not
  - apohn 9y ago
    With exception of one person (who left for a better job, not because they were fired), the executive management that enabled that stupid decision is still there. The people that did the actual hiring are mostly gone, but they were just pawns in that situation.

djellybeans 9y ago

The last severance package I got was one weeks' worth of compensation. They are an early stage startup, with about 15 employees and have existed for 3 years.