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Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

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Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#11

Post by bestnameever »

byoung2 wrote: post #2

I had a similar situation back in 2009. I gave my resignation to my boss on a Friday and he said I should hold off until Monday. Monday came around and they laid off most the the dev staff. Instead of having to work for 2 more weeks I got 6 weeks severance and got to leave that day. I already had a job lined up to start 2 weeks later so I booked a week in Cancun in the interim. They make you sign a paper that says yo…

Be careful negotiating severance if your company does not like you or has a poor culture.

Making a counter offer can be taken as a refusal of their offer of severance.

Companies can't just not offer you severance if they make a habit of it so they may take advantage of being able to deny you the option.

I am not a lawyer but I know people who have lost their option of a severance simply by trying to negotiate for a better offer.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#12

Post by jzwinck »

If you are not hard up for money you should immediately look for a nice trip somewhere. Be flexible with location instead of time to get a good price. Take three weeks off. Nice places this time of year might be Cuba, Thailand, Costa Rica, Florida, or Big Sky.

Polish your resume on the plane.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#13

Post by greenspot »

dingaling wrote: post #9
Kushan wrote: post #6

Looking for a job is a full time job in itself. Start looking immediately, get up early as if you were going to work and keep looking until it's time to "go home". The release you've signed is pretty normal, nothing to really worry about (Unless they've done anything illegal, in which case you're not obliged to adhere to the release but I don't think that's the case). Just get back on the horse. This happens to the b…

> Just get back on the horse. But if you have some funds to tide you over I wouldn't recommend jumping onto the first horse you find. Go for some fun pony rides first. Most people have a list of "minor aspirations" that are constantly deferred due to the pressures of work. Now's a good time to achieve those. Much better than going on vacation, which I believe is a bad idea after a lay-off as your mind constantly repl…

> going on vacation, which I believe is a bad idea after a lay-off as your mind constantly replays what has just happened

so true

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#14

Post by vesak »

Do something with your free time. Shut down Netflix, HBO, Reddit, Hacker News and all such distractions. It doesn't have to be profitable or even remotedly useful, just as long it's something that you know that you should be doing.

Examples: create things (write, program, compose); exercise; meditate; start learning something.

Sleep 8 hours every day. Or whatever is your optimum. But no more and no less.

https://www.amazon.com/War-Art-Through-Creative-Battles/dp/1... -- this book might resonate especially well now.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#15

Post by arethuza »

If you are in the UK you may qualify for legal advice where you get a lawyer and your employer has to pay for it.

A couple of years back I resigned from a job in the UK and although I was on good terms with the people I worked with the HR department (inevitably) did their best to try and screw me and having a good lawyer on my side made the process fairly painless as they actually did the negotiation with my former employer and I got 3 months salary and various other benefits.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#16

Post by joss82 »

I would recommend this article which is exactly about the situation you're in:

http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/2008/05/laid-off-one-t...

It was written by a fellow HNer a few years ago, but still relevant today, IMHO.

Edit: shortened overlong sentence.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#17

Post by jblok »

arethuza wrote: post #15

If you are in the UK you may qualify for legal advice where you get a lawyer and your employer has to pay for it. A couple of years back I resigned from a job in the UK and although I was on good terms with the people I worked with the HR department (inevitably) did their best to try and screw me and having a good lawyer on my side made the process fairly painless as they actually did the negotiation with my former e…

How did they try to screw you? If you resign you withdraw most of your termination rights surely, as you are the one terminating yourself.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#18

Post by cmdrfred »

jblok wrote: post #17
arethuza wrote: post #15

If you are in the UK you may qualify for legal advice where you get a lawyer and your employer has to pay for it. A couple of years back I resigned from a job in the UK and although I was on good terms with the people I worked with the HR department (inevitably) did their best to try and screw me and having a good lawyer on my side made the process fairly painless as they actually did the negotiation with my former e…

How did they try to screw you? If you resign you withdraw most of your termination rights surely, as you are the one terminating yourself.

I'm in the US but I've had employer's hold on to final paychecks out of spite and refuse to payout vacation time. My state department of labor took care of it after a few months.

Re: Ask HN: Laid off today for the first time, anything to be wary of? Advice?

#19

Post by arethuza »

jblok wrote: post #17
arethuza wrote: post #15

If you are in the UK you may qualify for legal advice where you get a lawyer and your employer has to pay for it. A couple of years back I resigned from a job in the UK and although I was on good terms with the people I worked with the HR department (inevitably) did their best to try and screw me and having a good lawyer on my side made the process fairly painless as they actually did the negotiation with my former e…

How did they try to screw you? If you resign you withdraw most of your termination rights surely, as you are the one terminating yourself.

It's a rather long story and I don't want to go into the details - but I had a employment contract with unusual terms in it so there was a degree of negotiation about how the whole thing would work out and their initial offer contained a lot of stuff (e.g. relating to tax) that could have screwed me quite badly had I not had a lawyer look at it.
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