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The last time I got laid off, my severance was basically enough to buy a bus ticket to the unemployment office. What they're doing here is incredible. (Almost f

The last time I got laid off, my severance was basically enough to buy a bus ticket to the unemployment office. What they're doing here is incredible. (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath)

esel2k 4y ago
As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to. Normally you have 3 months by contract plus some add a month per year tenure. Healthcare costs, career support etc is normal for larger/successful companies. Then certain countries (not the company) will pay 80percent of your salary for 2 years to find a new job. Happy that some companies also start to do this in the US, but yeah it sounds that this is not a given. It will generate a better transition and avoid serious mental problems/personal issues.
- rootusrootus 4y ago
  > some companies also start to do this in the US This is pretty normal in my experience. Having experienced layoffs (never as a target, always from the side) for the last 25 years. There are probably edge cases, but some amount of severance (based on time with the company, typicall), healthcare coverage, bonus acceleration, etc, is all completely normal. On HN, of course, you're mostly only going to see the edge cases posting, so it's easy to get a distorted view of normal.
  - anon14132 4y ago
    Yeah I have been laid off once, at Fortune 15 company. We got, at least, 2 month of severance pay. And 2 weeks extra for each year with company after first 4 years. It wasn't a tech company, so I always assumed that this is pretty common in mass lay offs.
- disgruntledphd2 4y ago
  > As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to Note that Europe is a big place, and laws are not standard for layoffs/redundancy. I got laid off this year, and basically got one week's severance pay, plus my two weeks notice. In Ireland, I believe the standard amongst larger companies is one month per year served, but the cap is very low so generally tech companies will make much of the payout conditional on an NDA.
  - thatwasunusual 4y ago
    For Norway it's usually three months both ways. For bigger layoffs it can be "anything" from three months and up. I was outsourceed once, and got nine months pay from day 1. So I got doubly paid as soon as I found a new job. Good times. :)
- bastardoperator 4y ago
  I worked with a person that was laid off with 6 months severance that was not reported to the state. They immediately filed for unemployment, and then the company hired them back as a contractor 4 or 5 weeks later. We labelled him the triple dipper and he said getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he's basically rolling around in money coupled with a one month paid sabbatical.
  - anon14132 4y ago
    In Texas, severance pay has no bearing on unemployment insurance. I did same thing but told unemployment office about severance pay, since I was too worried about breaking any rules. They told me I could win jackpot but they would still legally owe me unemployment pay. It is all about actually woking. If you work and then get paid for that work, that's when you cannot claim unemployment pay. So, technically, if you do contract work and still claim unemployment, then you are breaking the law.
    - bastardoperator 4y ago
      Yes, I believe he was technically breaking the law by under reporting. My limited understanding was that he was able to avoid issues by billing as an LLC versus an individual and didn't draw a paycheck from his LLC while on unemployment, he just let the money stack.
- apohn 4y ago
  >As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to. IME 14 weeks minimum is really generous in the US. I've been at 2 companies where it was 1 week per year of employment. At one company they added on 1 month of severance during a really large layoff. The tenure at tech companies in the US tends to be quite short, so getting 14 weeks probably unusual at typical tech company.
  - roflyear 4y ago
    I would wager that most companies in the US give NO severance. You get unemployment benefits, I guess.
    - lotsofpulp 4y ago
      > You get unemployment benefits, I guess. Depending on the political environment of the state one is in. It could be capped at a useless amount, or the unemployment department minimally staffed. I know someone in NJ that has a pending status for 2 years with no response or ability to contact the state, and they have 8 years of W-2 showing they paid unemployment insurance.
      - roflyear 4y ago
        Odd, NJ is usually pretty good with that stuff. Special situation, maybe?
        lotsofpulp 4y ago
        No, you can see tons of Reddit posts about people not being able to speak to anyone at NJ unemployment. You can try calling at anytime of day and the machine will say (after 130 seconds of automated prompts) that all agents are too busy and to call back the next business day. In the event you do get through, you reach a line level agent, and they say a supervisor has to look at the case, and to wait 6 to 8 weeks before calling back. That’s it, nothing else. I assume many people just give up.
    - 4y ago
roflyear 4y ago
Yeah this is pretty good. Would make me feel good about getting a job at Stripe for sure. My current company I'm sure would pay NOTHING and we don't get bonuses anyway, so...!
gaws 4y ago
> (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath) You should still do it.
- nsxwolf 4y ago
  I probably signed a non-disparagement agreement to get the little bit I got.
adamsmith143 4y ago
I find it interesting that they're saying they're doing so bad financially they need to cut 14% of their workforce but are also doing well enough they can pay 14% of their payroll for 3.5 months of no work + Bonuses + PTO + Stock + 6 Months of Healthcare? Doesn't seem to add up
- tehwebguy 4y ago
  Morale for the remaining employees would drop and attrition would jump if they all watched their fellow employees get kicked to the curb by their current employer.
- admax88qqq 4y ago
  How much do you think 14% of their workforce costs to keep employed for another year vs 3.5 months + bonuses + pto + stock + 6 months healthcare? Do you think their doing it for shits and giggles? Or do you think that they've actually done the math?
  - lostlogin 4y ago
    Tone aside, asking if op thinks Stripe have done the maths is an interesting question. How did Stripe end up with expenses they need to reduce if they did the maths? Yes, their world changed, but at some point they made choices that were incorrect.
- ghaff 4y ago
  They take the hit but the payouts eventually end. What’s described would not have been that uncommon for big companies back in the day. They take a financial in a quarter and they hope they can move on with a lower cost structure. Often doesn’t play out well of course.
- dragonwriter 4y ago
  Much of the severance is legally mandated pay in lieu of notice for a mass layoff, the rest is (usually, and presumably in this case) an inducement for a release of any potential claims and to sign non-disparagement agreements. Of course, its presented as largesse to the recipients, but its very much not.
zjaffee 4y ago
They're only paying this much severance because 90 percent of it is legally obligated by the state of California, where the vast majority of their employees work. 60 work days must be paid out, which is 12 weeks of work. So essentially they're giving people only an extra 2 weeks of severance to sign away their right to a wrongful termination lawsuit.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

esel2k 4y ago

As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to. Normally you have 3 months by contract plus some add a month per year tenure. Healthcare costs, career support etc is normal for larger/successful companies. Then certain countries (not the company) will pay 80percent of your salary for 2 years to find a new job. Happy that some companies also start to do this in the US, but yeah it sounds that this is not a given. It will generate a better transition and avoid serious mental problems/personal issues.

rootusrootus 4y ago
> some companies also start to do this in the US This is pretty normal in my experience. Having experienced layoffs (never as a target, always from the side) for the last 25 years. There are probably edge cases, but some amount of severance (based on time with the company, typicall), healthcare coverage, bonus acceleration, etc, is all completely normal. On HN, of course, you're mostly only going to see the edge cases posting, so it's easy to get a distorted view of normal.
- anon14132 4y ago
  Yeah I have been laid off once, at Fortune 15 company. We got, at least, 2 month of severance pay. And 2 weeks extra for each year with company after first 4 years. It wasn't a tech company, so I always assumed that this is pretty common in mass lay offs.
disgruntledphd2 4y ago
> As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to Note that Europe is a big place, and laws are not standard for layoffs/redundancy. I got laid off this year, and basically got one week's severance pay, plus my two weeks notice. In Ireland, I believe the standard amongst larger companies is one month per year served, but the cap is very low so generally tech companies will make much of the payout conditional on an NDA.
- thatwasunusual 4y ago
  For Norway it's usually three months both ways. For bigger layoffs it can be "anything" from three months and up. I was outsourceed once, and got nine months pay from day 1. So I got doubly paid as soon as I found a new job. Good times. :)
bastardoperator 4y ago
I worked with a person that was laid off with 6 months severance that was not reported to the state. They immediately filed for unemployment, and then the company hired them back as a contractor 4 or 5 weeks later. We labelled him the triple dipper and he said getting laid off was the best thing that ever happened to him and that he's basically rolling around in money coupled with a one month paid sabbatical.
- anon14132 4y ago
  In Texas, severance pay has no bearing on unemployment insurance. I did same thing but told unemployment office about severance pay, since I was too worried about breaking any rules. They told me I could win jackpot but they would still legally owe me unemployment pay. It is all about actually woking. If you work and then get paid for that work, that's when you cannot claim unemployment pay. So, technically, if you do contract work and still claim unemployment, then you are breaking the law.
  - bastardoperator 4y ago
    Yes, I believe he was technically breaking the law by under reporting. My limited understanding was that he was able to avoid issues by billing as an LLC versus an individual and didn't draw a paycheck from his LLC while on unemployment, he just let the money stack.
apohn 4y ago
>As a European the severance for a large company doesn’t sound all to different to what I am used to. IME 14 weeks minimum is really generous in the US. I've been at 2 companies where it was 1 week per year of employment. At one company they added on 1 month of severance during a really large layoff. The tenure at tech companies in the US tends to be quite short, so getting 14 weeks probably unusual at typical tech company.
- roflyear 4y ago
  I would wager that most companies in the US give NO severance. You get unemployment benefits, I guess.
  - lotsofpulp 4y ago
    > You get unemployment benefits, I guess. Depending on the political environment of the state one is in. It could be capped at a useless amount, or the unemployment department minimally staffed. I know someone in NJ that has a pending status for 2 years with no response or ability to contact the state, and they have 8 years of W-2 showing they paid unemployment insurance.
    - roflyear 4y ago
      Odd, NJ is usually pretty good with that stuff. Special situation, maybe?
      - lotsofpulp 4y ago
        No, you can see tons of Reddit posts about people not being able to speak to anyone at NJ unemployment. You can try calling at anytime of day and the machine will say (after 130 seconds of automated prompts) that all agents are too busy and to call back the next business day. In the event you do get through, you reach a line level agent, and they say a supervisor has to look at the case, and to wait 6 to 8 weeks before calling back. That’s it, nothing else. I assume many people just give up.
  - 4y ago

roflyear 4y ago

Yeah this is pretty good. Would make me feel good about getting a job at Stripe for sure. My current company I'm sure would pay NOTHING and we don't get bonuses anyway, so...!

gaws 4y ago

> (Almost felt compelled to name names here but took a breath) You should still do it.

nsxwolf 4y ago
I probably signed a non-disparagement agreement to get the little bit I got.

adamsmith143 4y ago

I find it interesting that they're saying they're doing so bad financially they need to cut 14% of their workforce but are also doing well enough they can pay 14% of their payroll for 3.5 months of no work + Bonuses + PTO + Stock + 6 Months of Healthcare? Doesn't seem to add up

tehwebguy 4y ago
Morale for the remaining employees would drop and attrition would jump if they all watched their fellow employees get kicked to the curb by their current employer.
admax88qqq 4y ago
How much do you think 14% of their workforce costs to keep employed for another year vs 3.5 months + bonuses + pto + stock + 6 months healthcare? Do you think their doing it for shits and giggles? Or do you think that they've actually done the math?
- lostlogin 4y ago
  Tone aside, asking if op thinks Stripe have done the maths is an interesting question. How did Stripe end up with expenses they need to reduce if they did the maths? Yes, their world changed, but at some point they made choices that were incorrect.
ghaff 4y ago
They take the hit but the payouts eventually end. What’s described would not have been that uncommon for big companies back in the day. They take a financial in a quarter and they hope they can move on with a lower cost structure. Often doesn’t play out well of course.
dragonwriter 4y ago
Much of the severance is legally mandated pay in lieu of notice for a mass layoff, the rest is (usually, and presumably in this case) an inducement for a release of any potential claims and to sign non-disparagement agreements. Of course, its presented as largesse to the recipients, but its very much not.

zjaffee 4y ago

They're only paying this much severance because 90 percent of it is legally obligated by the state of California, where the vast majority of their employees work. 60 work days must be paid out, which is 12 weeks of work. So essentially they're giving people only an extra 2 weeks of severance to sign away their right to a wrongful termination lawsuit.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]