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Wow. This is my comment most downvoted in history, and I would really appreciate an explanation why from someone who understands why (no hard feelings, I don't

Wow. This is my comment most downvoted in history, and I would really appreciate an explanation why from someone who understands why (no hard feelings, I don't care about internet/brownie points, but the reason I'm here on HN is to learn and downvotes only help me figure out that someone thinks I'm wrong, not why). If you think this is factually wrong, please point out why. If you think it's stupid (even though it is not factually wrong), I would also appreciate an explanation why.

jlbnjmn 7y ago
In Germany, if an employee gets laid off after 2 years, they would get 50% monthly salary times number of years worked, so 1 months pay. That means the Airbnb severance package is equivalent to a 6+ year employee, for every employee getting laid off. That's generous by German standards, isn't it? Then when you consider the median income for a software engineer in Germany is $54k, whereas in the USA it's $92k, and at Airbnb it's $200k+, that means that an engineer being laid off from Airbnb could be receiving the median annual income of a software engineer in Germany as severance, not including stock. That, to me, is generous. https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/termination-employment-contract.html https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/termination-employment-co...
- beagle3 7y ago
  In Denmark according to GlassDoor [0], Avg developer salary is 530K DKK/yr =~ $76K ; The policy for severance months[1] is sliding, but is front loaded and starts at with 1m severance for 5m worked, sliding down to 6m severance of >9years with a few more stops. In Israel, according to GlassDoor [2], the avg pay for a software developer is 253K ILS =~ $72K USD; severance policy is 1m severance for every 1y worked. When I was employing people in the UK, salaries were significantly higher than those paid in Israel or Denmark, though they are lower (~$68k/year) now that the GBP lost so much of its value (and ... I haven't employed anyone in the UK for more than a decade; not sure how different it is now) I'm not familiar with the german market, but - $75K vs. $92K is 20% difference, which from my experience is very consistent, including at the high end (Amazon in Israel is offering top engineers $300K-$350K/yr for example, and I would guess FB, Goog, MSFT are doing that as well, "regular" senior engineers at the $150K level). And it's important that this severance pay is not, in any way, dependent on benevolence, generosity, or even proper management in most cases -- employers are forced fund governmenta-approved-and-regulated severance funds on a monthly basis, so bankruptcy doesn't rob the employee. McDonald's employees get the same arrangement, although some companies (mostly finance and high tech) are much more generous than that. [0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/copenhagen-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,10_IM958_KO11,29.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/copenhagen-software-devel... [1] https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legislation/denmark-severance-payredundancy-compensation https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legis... [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/tel-aviv-yafo-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM1002_KO14,31.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/tel-aviv-yafo-software-en... - note, this is for Tel-Aviv but payscale.com gives a similar number for the entire country. p.s. Israel is not actually in Europe - it's in Asia (very close to North Africa and relatively close to Southern Europe). But from a legal and cultural perspective, Israel is closest to being European -- specifically, Irsaeli Laws were forked from British Laws in 1948.

jlbnjmn 7y ago

In Germany, if an employee gets laid off after 2 years, they would get 50% monthly salary times number of years worked, so 1 months pay. That means the Airbnb severance package is equivalent to a 6+ year employee, for every employee getting laid off. That's generous by German standards, isn't it? Then when you consider the median income for a software engineer in Germany is $54k, whereas in the USA it's $92k, and at Airbnb it's $200k+, that means that an engineer being laid off from Airbnb could be receiving the median annual income of a software engineer in Germany as severance, not including stock. That, to me, is generous. https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/termination-employment-contract.html https://www.howtogermany.com/pages/termination-employment-co...

beagle3 7y ago
In Denmark according to GlassDoor [0], Avg developer salary is 530K DKK/yr =~ $76K ; The policy for severance months[1] is sliding, but is front loaded and starts at with 1m severance for 5m worked, sliding down to 6m severance of >9years with a few more stops. In Israel, according to GlassDoor [2], the avg pay for a software developer is 253K ILS =~ $72K USD; severance policy is 1m severance for every 1y worked. When I was employing people in the UK, salaries were significantly higher than those paid in Israel or Denmark, though they are lower (~$68k/year) now that the GBP lost so much of its value (and ... I haven't employed anyone in the UK for more than a decade; not sure how different it is now) I'm not familiar with the german market, but - $75K vs. $92K is 20% difference, which from my experience is very consistent, including at the high end (Amazon in Israel is offering top engineers $300K-$350K/yr for example, and I would guess FB, Goog, MSFT are doing that as well, "regular" senior engineers at the $150K level). And it's important that this severance pay is not, in any way, dependent on benevolence, generosity, or even proper management in most cases -- employers are forced fund governmenta-approved-and-regulated severance funds on a monthly basis, so bankruptcy doesn't rob the employee. McDonald's employees get the same arrangement, although some companies (mostly finance and high tech) are much more generous than that. [0] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/copenhagen-software-developer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,10_IM958_KO11,29.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/copenhagen-software-devel... [1] https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legislation/denmark-severance-payredundancy-compensation https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/observatories/emcc/erm/legis... [2] https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/tel-aviv-yafo-software-engineer-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM1002_KO14,31.htm https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/tel-aviv-yafo-software-en... - note, this is for Tel-Aviv but payscale.com gives a similar number for the entire country. p.s. Israel is not actually in Europe - it's in Asia (very close to North Africa and relatively close to Southern Europe). But from a legal and cultural perspective, Israel is closest to being European -- specifically, Irsaeli Laws were forked from British Laws in 1948.