[mlthoughts2018]

At least the described severance benefit might be on the correct order of magnitude to be considered reasonable and not totally and odiously evil,

“As part of the separation program, the employees will get a salary of up to 60 weeks, bonus and benefits, depending on the length of their service, Verizon said.”

This is why I always advise people to negotiate significance severance benefits up front, on the order of 6 months for junior employees, a year + bonuses and continued benefits for experienced employees.

Companies absolutely agree to severance amounts like this, even for new grads, and sayingno to a company that won’t is just doing yourself a favor.

[porpoisely]

I'm pretty sure verizon has a union and their severance is negotiated by the union. At least that's what happened in my first union job. Anyone working for verizon can correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, which companies negotiate severance package before you are even hired? Especially as a new graduate? I've never heard of such thing as a software developer.

[hnuser355]

most (all? Idk) corporate office workers are not in the union. People who drive around putting boxes in peoples houses and climbing poles are in the union.

[lovich]

How many of these companies negotiate? Most jobs are take the offer or leave it. You need to be in a highly desired role or high up in management before you get companies willing to alter "contracts". That's especially true when they have roles they are hiring thousands for and do not want to deal with everyone haven't different deals

[pc86]

New grads in partner-track roles at client service firms, MBA types, private equity, etc, maybe. 22-year old John Doe getting a job at ERAC with a 2.9 GPA from a state school? Absolutely not.

Some places will certainly negotiate severance, but it's state and industry specific as well as very, very dependent on the position you're moving into.

[mlthoughts2018]

No, I am specifically talking about junior devs in traditional tech & product companies.

[davemp]

  comp(tenure) -> {
    (60 [weeks of salary, benefits]) * (tenure [weeks]) / (65 [years]), tenure < 65
    60 [weeks of salary, benefits], tenure >= 65
  }

One can come up with many horrible compensation functions that satisfy Verizons statement.

[softawre]

I think the fact that so many accepted the package means that it wasn't as bad as this.

[hayksaakian]

If it's "up to" 60 weeks like they offer "up to X" internet speeds, then they're selling the best case but probably delivering half that.

[rayiner]

I get you're trying to make a joke, but it's a weird criticism of Verizon specifically. Every FiOS circuit I've had over the last 15 years, except for some growing pains with gigabit, has tested at 10% over its rated speed. Verizon also has particularly generous compensation: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/14/business/verizon-workers-... (union members make $130,000 on average in salary and benefits).

[ryandrake]

I just got back from Thanksgiving visiting my folks in rural PA where Verizon DSL is the only so-called high speed option, and it barely worked. I often could not even load the speed test pages. They were getting far less (10-20%?) than advertised. I thought the joke was brilliant and apt.

[jandrese]

Verizon DSL and Verizon FiOS are entirely different beasts. Your parents are likely right on the edge of DSL availability, where it starts to get really flaky.

[mlthoughts2018]

Yes, but many times companies will pull unmitigated dick moves and give you 2 weeks, no benefits. By comparison, even 1/3 the stated number of weeks is decent (especially for junior employees).

Still, it’s a cautionary reninder to negotiate significant severance benefits.

[scarface74]

How do you as a lowly employee "negotiate" severance benefits. You have no power. If they say "No" what are you going to do?

[mlthoughts2018]

Just don’t accept that job if they say no. Look for a new job if your current one doesn’t offer this.

[scarface74]

Good luck with that unless you're a special snowflake....

[mlthoughts2018]

It’s just a basic part of average-case negotiations for most software jobs at a wide range of companies.

People like you, who don’t negotiate or turn down offers when they don’t include severance, unfortunately end up not getting benefits they could otherwise routinely get by negotiating and being willing to say no.

[mindslight]

And while the pay purports to be in US dollars, it's in the form of a prepaid debit card with very low spending limits at non-approved vendors.

[anticensor]

That is a scam. Severance should be paid as earned money, not as a debt.

[mindslight]

Yeah... that was a facetious reference to net neutrality.

[anticensor]

I am decoding for readers who did not get the humour:

instead of a single data cap with overage pay and consistent speed for all destinations, you get various separate caps for various destinations.

[ohples]

What company’s we talking about here and for what positions?