How much would they have to offer you to quit?

[schildi]

I was just thinking about this for no real reason, but here is the question:
How much money would your work place have to offer you for you to quit? I am asking this as in the past, my work place has offered people "voluntary separation packages", where they offer money to people who then quit when they take the offer. Usually, only low(er) performers are offered these packages, so I don't know exact details.

Where would be your break point where you say you could not reject the offer, even in today's job market? I absolutely love my job, and I am pretty sure that I won't find anything comparable ever again, but I think I would have serious problems rejecting anything that's 2-3x my annual salary. (if I was considered a low performer, that point would be much lower, as I'd fear to be let go anyway)

How about you?

[Deleted]

I think anything above 2X my current salary would be taken into consideration.

This way I will not be as stressed out looking for another job and have the luxury to be picky!

[midjd]

Hmm, tough question... I really like my job. For me the decision would depend on what perks I could get in addition to cash - e.g. a year on their insurance (we have really good insurance), or vesting in the pension (I have another 3.5 years to go). It would also depend on how much I felt I was about to be canned - beggars not being choosers and all. But I think 1.5 years' salary would be sufficient.

Per the employee handbook, all we're entitled to is 2 wks' severance plus our accrued vacation/personal time, so I don't think I'll have to worry about making this decision

[Tiny]

Well, I'd take them paying my health insurance for a year from date of separation and then 1/2 my salary paid out in 26 installments. I'm not greedy.
My fixed expenses are low enough to handle this... and I'd finally have 'time' to do stuff I want to do (which doesn't require alot of money). The down side would be I wouldn't be able to save quite as much for retirement...
::sigh:: this is why I'm slamming as much as possible into retirement and investment accounts NOW... I may someday just walk away from work...

[Sum Dum Gai]

I'd seriously consider anything close to 1x salary plus the difference between my regular insurance cost and COBRA. I'm fairly confident I could have a new job with comparable or better pay lined up in a few months or less.

[❤ mollymouser ❤]

Gosh, I just quit when my wonderful DH asked me to ... I didn't think to demand cash

[dancinmama]

In 2010, the company DH works for, offered VPs and directors incentives to retire. Now, there are rumors that they are going to offer "something" to managers (DH's level). He works closely with higher-ups in HR and although no one should be telling him anything directly and outright, a couple of HR people have alluded to him that it is coming.

There are no rumors that they will offer a package simply to get people (at any level) to leave, but maybe that will be further down the road.

DH WAS planning on taking early retirement in early 2012, but if no package is offered and he still believes that a buyout package will be forthcoming then he may stick around for another couple or few months to see that through.

He works ungodly hours (both in and out of the office) and travels quite a bit and is ready to move on to the next step of our lives - retirement. ;D

Oh, I forgot to say - he's hoping for AT LEAST 6-12 months pay; adding some years of service to his years of service toward retirement in addition to that would be AWESOME too.

[buster]

My organization last year offered all staff the option to retire or take a severance package. The offer was 2 weeks salary per year worked up to 1 year with an 8 week minimum payout. Those close to retirement also received an extra year towards the plan.

A few years back, an entire department was relocating from the bay area to Houston and the staff close to retirement were offered some great deals if they stayed. Go work in Houston for a couple of years until you retire w/ incentive pay (not sure on the exact details), and if you don't like Houston after retirement, we'll move you back to the bay area on the company.

My previous employer paid 1 week severance per year worked with a minimum payout of 2 weeks. They were cheap bastards. Fortunately I left on my own (to the awesome job i have now - serious) as they've had multiple rounds of layoffs since and moral is at an all time low.

[Deleted]

DH is already set up to receive 6 months of severance once the initial contract is up. For the last several months there have been rumors of a re-org which will force everyone to re-apply for their jobs. That would mean that we would have to go onto a local package which financially means we're just treading water.

I think DH will cause a stink if they want him to reapply for his job (25 years with the company with very good annual reviews). We'd go away if they paid out his contract (through July 31, 2012). It will still be a pain because the house we're planning to move to in the SF Bay Area is rented through July 31, 2012. We would have to move to our furnished vacational rental house in So Cal until we could move to the Bay Area house. We'll know in the next few weeks.

[lulubean]

I would tell Dh to take 2x salary (take home) and 3 years of health insurance paid. That would be a nice chunk of change.

[gsbrq]

If they offered me 2 years I'd be out the door in a heartbeat.
One year plus Cobra would probably do it at a minimum. Although it might depend on the day I was having that day....

But, buyouts don't happen at my job. Nice to think about, though...taking a paid sabbatical would be fantastic, and I'm pretty confident I could get a decent replacement job when I was ready.

[Anne_in_VA]

They don't offer buyouts at my company (that I'm aware of), but being 2 years from full retirement age, I'd take 2+ years at full salary and having insurance fully paid for those two years. COBRA ins. is really expensive and I couldn't afford it if they didn't pay it, although I'm eligible for Medicare next year.

[Deleted]

A year's salary and health care.

[jeffreymo]

6 months with benefits extended.

[Deleted]

They did a form of this in the Birmingham school district. They needed to trim staff so they offered $25,000 as an incentive to go ahead and retire. You had to be eligible, though.

The big corporation where my ex retired from did this several times. It's really not that great if you are a middle-management type of person; it's tough to find another job at that salary sometimes. I think he did finally accept a year's salary. But he had 35 years with them so he also had a pension plus management savings plan (like a 401k).

As many of you note, the insurance is the problem. None of his offers included that. What's also bad is the tax aspect. The taxes on an additional $100,000 (it was always lump sum) can be pretty substantial.

[Anne_in_VA]

SS - you're right, the taxes suck when you get a lump sum. I was laid off from one company several years ago and was given a lump sum as compensation and I think I got 3 months of COBRA paid. I think the tax hit was about 1/3.

[formerexpat]

The taxes on an additional $100,000 (it was always lump sum) can be pretty substantial.

So it becomes a problem when the middle class pays taxes on the $100k but this is what the "rich" deal with every year.

[tskeeter]

When the location I was working at was closed, I was offered a job at another location or a separation package. The package was two weeks pay for every year of service (could be taken as salary continuation), medical and dental until my official separation date, pro-rated bonus, and immediate vesting of all stock options (allowing future gains to be taxed as capital gains rather than ordinary income), as well as retaining all vested benefits (pension). All together, the package was worth about $100K.

I was ready for a change. I took the package. Hung around home doing honey do's for a couple of months, tagged along with DW on a business trip to France, then went back to work. Much closer to home, significantly fewer hours, a bit more pay. Several months of two pay checks was a nice way to augment retirement funds.

[Bob Ross]

Wondering where this magical mystical land is where your employer actually pays you copious sums of money in order to not work for them anymore? Is it called "Execuville" or "Upper Managmentia" or somthing like that?

In the past, I've just tried not to let the door hit my a$$ on my way out.

[thyme4change]

First off - if they offered it specifically to me, I would know they want me gone. If they think I'm not valuable, I would take anything they offered me. I've been laid off twice, both times I got 6 weeks and one place was nice enough to say "Don't let the door hit you on the way out." A year is outrageous. The only people that get a year are people who have been with the company for decades, people under contract, and pregnant women who would have been fired anyway, but used their uterus as a bargaining tool.

If the offer was out there to everyone, I would be worried about the state of the company and make an exit plan right away.

[simser]

At this point it'd have to be close to 1 million...

... but then again I'm 3-4 months away from graduating with my PhD (which is my work). Ain't nothing going to stop me from getting that

Check with me when I'm done and the number will be lower. Much lower.

[qofcc]

I agree with Thyme... if they're making an offer, it's probably time to go.

How much would it take for me to be happy about the situation? probably 2x annual salary. Enough to pay off my debts and live on while I look for something else and be able to settle for a lower paying job if I needed to. I know it would take quite a while to find something at this payscale because it would be my 20+ years experience and an AS vs. the 20-somethings with MBAs.

[ameiko]

Not sure. On the one hand, I'd probably score a job pretty quickly but I have a solid gig now; not that hard and I have great salary and perks. I'm almost through year one of a 20 year plan to be fully retired at 55 with a pension, paid off house, and a large nest egg; I'd hate to walk away from that.

Now if I sold my screenplay for 1+ million....

[Deleted]

It would be very hard to replicate my current salary in my home market and we don't wish to relocate, so I would need 3 years. Obvious if the company was in major decline, I'd take less as that would be a better option than getting nothing if the worse happened. Thankfully, our company is on a major roll.

[TD2K]

How much is this influenced if your state is a right to work state? If it is and they want you gone, they aren't likely to offer you a huge amount of money to convince you to resign when they can just notify you that your services are no longer required.

[Deleted]

May 8, 2011 11:58:46 GMT -5 TD2K said:

How much is this influenced if your state is a right to work state? If it is and they want you gone, they aren't likely to offer you a huge amount of money to convince you to resign when they can just notify you that your services are no longer required.

This is fine if you don't care about the morale and retention of the employees you want to keep or your ability to attract new talent.

[Deleted]

This message has been deleted.

[TD2K]

This is fine if you don't care about the morale and retention of the employees you want to keep or your ability to attract new talent.


I work in the consulting industry so being laid off or put on part time hours (which can be down to 0) when there is no work is standard operating procedure so my point of view may be different from other people. On the other hand, your staff does keep a close eye on what backlog there is of work and when it gets sparse, they start looking.

[ruger2506]

May 5, 2011 21:09:47 GMT -5 schildi said:

I was just thinking about this for no real reason, but here is the question:
How much money would your work place have to offer you for you to quit? I am asking this as in the past, my work place has offered people "voluntary separation packages", where they offer money to people who then quit when they take the offer. Usually, only low(er) performers are offered these packages, so I don't know exact details.

Where would be your break point where you say you could not reject the offer, even in today's job market? I absolutely love my job, and I am pretty sure that I won't find anything comparable ever again, but I think I would have serious problems rejecting anything that's 2-3x my annual salary. (if I was considered a low performer, that point would be much lower, as I'd fear to be let go anyway)

How about you?

1.5 million. Seriously. If I have to have a job (which I do) this is the job to have.

I come and go as I please, I get along with my coworkers, I get paid very well, I have almost complete autonomy. I can't ask for much more.

The only way I intend to leave is retiring. I figure I need 2 million in cash to retire. So I need 1.5 just over 1.5 million to get there.

[share88]

Health care.