This article will teach you how to negotiate a severance package and break free from a job you dislike. Life is too short to keep doing something that brings you no meaning, purpose, or happiness.
I am the bestselling author of How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. The book is the most comprehensive book that teaches you how to negotiate a severance. Negotiating a severance was my #1 catalyst to leave my six-figure investment banking job in 2012.
If you want a severance, the main thing you must do is not get fired or quit your job. Instead, get laid off. If you quit or get fired, you get no benefits, such as unemployment or health insurance. But if you get laid off, you can receive a severance payment, unemployment benefits, subsidized health insurance, strong referrals, and so much more.
A baby panda dies in the woods every time you quit your job or get fired. It is so much better to negotiate a severance and leave on your own terms with money in your pocket!
Big Difference Between Laid Off And Fired
First of all, there's a big difference between getting fired and getting laid off. In addition, there's a significant difference between a person who gets laid off by surprise versus someone who is able to negotiate a severance.
Most of what you read in the papers is about people getting laid off due to a “reduction in force,” or RIF as many companies call it nowadays. Getting fired is almost always due to cause.
You may have sent out a blast e-mail with company secrets by mistake. Or perhaps you said some sexist joke about women when the female HR manager so happened to walk by. Whatever the case, you don't want to get fired, nor should you quit if you don't have to.
People don't get fired because there's a big recession and the CEO says 10% of its employees must go. People don't get fired when there is a reorg. These people are getting laid off without cause. As a result, a severance is often given.
Reasons Not To Quit Or Get Fired
The vast majority of workers quit their jobs when they want to start a new job, go back to school, etc. Most people don't think there's any other way. It's a herd mentality.
On the other hand, those who learn how to negotiate a severance are open minded individuals. They are not afraid to think outside the box. To help explain why it's not ideal to quit or get fired, here are some unexpected negatives.
If You're Fired Or Quit, Many Bad Things Can Happen
1) You will not be eligible for any unemployment benefits. The logic behind this is simple. You did something wrong that forced your company to fire you. Or you voluntarily quit your job. Hence, it is your own fault you are unemployed!
2) You might have a black mark on your record if you are fired. Word can travel fast. Thus, you'll likely be passed over by future employers. No firm wants to risk hiring someone who was previously fired.
3) You may lose supporters and mentors who would have otherwise written letters of recommendation for you. They might not want to risk their reputation on quitters or miscreants.
4) You might die alone. Few things in life are worse than dying alone. If you don't have a job and don't have a backup plan, who will want to be with you for the long term?
Get Laid Off And Make More Money With A Severance
Now that you realize the downside of getting fired or quitting, you should logically seek an alternative. If you just can't stand the company you are working for anymore, figure out a way to get laid off of course!
If you want to leave your job, get “riffed” and negotiate a severance package. Don't just quit and walk away with nothing. Cashing out smartly is the way to go.
Here are some of the main reasons why it's beneficial to negotiate a severance and ask to get laid off.
Reasons To Negotiate A Severance
1) Getting laid off makes you eligible for government unemployment benefits. Here in San Francisco, you can get $450 a week for 26 weeks.
2) You may get severance. Many companies offer one to three weeks per every year worked. Please note that severance is completely at the discretion of the employer. It is not required by law.
3) If you have deferred compensation in the form of stock or cash, you are eligible to receive these assets during the scheduled time table. My friend Paul, for example, has around $400,000+ in deferred compensation he loses if he quits!
4) You can get all your unused vacation days paid. If you quit there's no guarantee you'll get them. You may even receive unused sick days, but that is very rare.
5) You will have no black marks on your employment record. This is key if you want to get back into the game at a future time.
6) You can get COBRA (healthcare) coverage for at least month and often times 3-6 months fully paid for by your employer. Legally, most companies must provide the option for COBRA for 18 months after separation. You most likely have to pay the monthly premiums after the initial grace period. It all depends on how well you negotiate.
7) Even if you get mandatory WARN Act pay and a severance package, you are eligible for unemployment benefits, so don't delay filing immediately once laid off. Some people erroneously wait until after their WARN Act pay runs out before applying for unemployment benefits. Apply for UB immediately.
How To Get Laid Off With A Severance
Let's say you've been working at your company for five years, and you've decided selling vacuum cleaners no longer interests you. You are a bit burnt out, and you wish to take a three month break in between jobs to recharge.
You can't just quit because you'll lose out on 10 weeks of severance pay. In addition, you won't be able to receive unemployment benefits or health care.
Instead, negotiate a severance package and get paid to take your three month break.
Steps To Negotiate A Severance
Here are some ways and thoughts to get laid off:
1. Google “WARN notification your state”
Then search by your company. WARN stands for “Worker Adjustment and RetrainingNotification” where a company legally must file with the state if they plan to do a mass layoff.
The goal is to provide potentially laid off workers time to adjust to a job loss (2 months in California, 3 months in New York for example).
2. Talk to your manager about the company's staffing levels
“Bloated, lean, just about right?” Basically tell her that you empathize with how difficult her decision must be to lay people off, and ask how she copes?
As the dialogue ensues, bring up a suggestion that you are willing to sacrifice your position for the good of the firm if she is asked by senior managers to choose people to layoff.
This way, you seem like a good team player. You should also make clear that with your sacrifice, you wish to receive severance and any deferred compensation you might have.
Being a manager is very difficult during rough times. If you can help managers make some difficult decisions for them, more often than not, they will accept your proposal.
If you ever wonder why C-level execs hire consultants like McKinsey for strategic reviews, now you know why. The consultants are often the scapegoats for letting go of staff, so the blame doesn't go on the big bosses.
Of course, if you are one of the top performers, they will make it difficult for you to leave, and might ask how they can help make your life better and might even give you a raise.
Quitting your job is selfish. Getting laid off is the more thoughtful way to go.
3. Bring up the topic of a sabbatical with your manager
There's never really a good time to ask for one. When things are busy and booming, the last thing the company wants is for an employee to take a nice 3 month long break.
When things are bad, your manager will think you're being thoughtless and foolish with your career. That's fine, since you want to get laid off anyway!
You can recharge and enjoy your time off, and if you get back and find yourself laid off, then what a fine choice. Here's a post that goes through the decisions on whether to take a sabbatical or not.
4. Fade to mediocrity
This is a riskier strategy that must be tactfully managed. Companies let go of their bottom 5-10% performers every year. Some call it the “Jack Welch Rule” from GE.
So long as you are one of the average 70-80% of employees, you'll likely never be let go. Falling to the bottom 10% in performance requires: not being a team player, but still being nice e.g. “Sorry, can't stay late, gotta go!“, being out of sight, not feeling you've put in your best work, and maybe even arriving 15 minutes late at times.
Be very careful not to do anything wrong. Most people at firms are mediocre, so don't feel bad. You can adopt the quiet quitting movement.
5. Become disliked, but not hated
Another strategy to get laid off with a severance is to become disliked. Are you the type of person who likes to whistle at your cubicle to the agitation of your colleagues? Do you like to bring back from breakfast or lunch the stinkiest meal possible and disgust your neighbors?
Well then, you are on the right path for getting put on the “RIF List.” I've had a couple managers tell me they can't stand someone because of their loud noises and whistles.
Because they can't stand that person, the manager finds nitpicking things to justify a RIF. As the annoying person, you should continue to be nice and smile. Just be a little oblivious.
6. Use the “It's not you it's me, but really it's you” strategy.
When you're afraid to let someone down who loves you more than you love them, employing this strategy works. Here's a whole post on how you can lessen someone's pain during breakup.
Important: It's really all about planting a seed of doubt in your manager's mind. Once your manager thinks you're a pain in the ass, annoying, or not pulling your weight, you will have a very difficult time convincing him or her otherwise.
People are naturally biased and will find reasons to let you go if you sufficiently bother them. For example, if your manager is a Republican, you can mention you are going to a Democratic fund raiser. Totally legal, but you will crawl under your manager's skin to the point where all he'll think about is finding ways to legally get rid of you!
Avoid These Mistakes To Get Laid Off
* Do not write anything in e-mail that could condemn you to getting fired. Assume all your e-mail are read. If you are embarrassed to read your e-mail on the front page of the newspaper, the e-mail is not legitimate and should not be written.
* Do not abuse your corporate card or any channel where you can spend the firm's money. You should never abuse your corporate card anyway. All expenditure must be above board.
* Do not harass your colleagues. This is a given. Now is not the time to go hit on the hot tamale at the other end of the floor. Many companies have a non-interoffice dating policy.
* Do not come in late or leave early more than once a week. Companies can terminate you for being incessantly late, so don't slack too much.
* Read your employee handbook. There are many dangers you must avoid that are contained in the hand book.
Empower Yourself With Knowledge
Getting laid off can be a wonderful thing if you have other things planned. The better an employee you are, the harder it is for you to engineer your layoff because you are clearly more valuable to the firm than what they are paying you.
Also, if a manager lays you off, by many state laws, they can not replace you with another candidate for a certain time period because that would violate the reason for a layoff. If you are a bad employee, you should probably be fired, but that opens up reputational risk to the firm as well as litigation risk.
Getting Laid Off Has Benefits
If you are thinking about quitting your job, please at least attempt to engineer a layoff instead. You may get severance, all your deferred compensation, healthcare coverage, as well as unemployment benefits from the government.
This is real money that shouldn't be taken lightly, since there's no guarantee that after the layoff you'll succeed in whatever new thing you want to do. Besides, after all these years of paying taxes, don't you want at least some of that money back?
Although your employer pays the unemployment insurance directly on your payroll, you are still indirectly paying for unemployment through a lower wage equivalent to the tax they must pay!
Sooner or later, our careers end. If you want your career to end sooner, consider getting laid off instead of quitting or getting fired. And if you have an incredible opportunity lined up already that will pay you handsomely, go ahead and quit. Just make sure you know what you're missing if you do!
Note: It is very important to work together with your HR staff. The HR staff's main purpose is to protect the company from litigation and NOT you. Remember who pays the HR staff's compensation. Finally, a severance comes with you signing a document protecting the firm from you. In essence, a severance package is like hush money.
Here's an inside look at how HR lays an employee off. Watch the video to demystify the process.
Recommendation For A Better Life
If you enjoyed this article, I wrote a comprehensive 245-page ebook entitled, How to Engineer Your Layoff. It teachespeople like you how to get laid off profitably. The book is updated for current times.
I go through the framework of how to negotiate a severance package in further detail. There are lots of case studies, negotiation tips, and guides to help you plan and execute a severance package.
Corporations have a team of lawyers and HR professionals looking out for their own interests. On the other hand, employees have to fend for themselves. I've taken in feedback from thousands of readers to make this book as impactful as possible.
How To Engineer Your Layoff is here to help those who feel they are at risk of getting let go, or who simply want to leave. Everybody whom I've coached or spoken to has said that engineering their layoff feels like winning the lottery. In my case, my lottery ticket amounts to six years of living expenses.
Use the code “savefive” at checkout to save $5.
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For another example, you can see my wife's case study on high she negotiated a six-figure severance as a high-performing employee. Never quit your job, get laid off instead. You will feel like you won the lottery as you move on to do something new.
For more nuanced personal finance content, join 65,000+ others and sign up for thefree Financial Samurai newsletterandposts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009.How To Negotiate A Severance: Don't Quit, Get Laid Off is a Financial Samurai original post. All rights reserved.
