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Severance

lcamtuf.substack.com

91–100 of 105 posts

Re: Severance

#91
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, that's a good one. At a job 10 years ago or so I had a similar premonition of upcoming layoffs—lots of closed door meetings between the execs, travel and expansion plans getting cancelled, etc. One day my immediate boss, who I genuinely like, walked into my office, closed the door, and told me he was gonna have to lay me off in two weeks. He said if I would handle x,y,z tasks (a few days of work) I could just sto…

I wish this were more common. For some reason, employees are expected to give employers two weeks or more of notice when they quit, while employers are expected to terminate employees with 0 seconds of notice.

I think there's a fear from the employers that the terminated employees will do something to fuck over the company because they're bitter, either by copying and distributing proprietary stuff, or even just posting a message shit-talking the leadership. Everyone knows that being fired or laid off sucks and passions can run high, so there is a perceived incentive that bitter employees will cause some damage.

I honestly don't think most people would do that, but I think there's a worry that "one bad actor is enough". Consequently, when I've been laid off in the past, usually my access to the computer (Slack, company email, and the computer itself) is cut off about a minute after I get the bad news.

That said, usually I get severance when I've been laid off, which is admittedly a small consolation, but a consolation all the same.

Re: Severance

#92
post #10

Are cherry09 and steve_ AI agents?

"we will provide up to two weeks’ worth of tokens to facilitate your continued operation during the job search. We also partnered with ThriveFlow to furnish, as an option, a collection of expertly-crafted grief counseling prompts" seems like it.

Re: Severance

#93
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ha, that's a good one. At a job 10 years ago or so I had a similar premonition of upcoming layoffs—lots of closed door meetings between the execs, travel and expansion plans getting cancelled, etc. One day my immediate boss, who I genuinely like, walked into my office, closed the door, and told me he was gonna have to lay me off in two weeks. He said if I would handle x,y,z tasks (a few days of work) I could just sto…

I wish this were more common. For some reason, employees are expected to give employers two weeks or more of notice when they quit, while employers are expected to terminate employees with 0 seconds of notice.

Well, when there are formal notice periods, you do generally get paid for the notice period, even if you're not working it.

Re: Severance

#94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it is legally forbidden to have any morals that get in the way of shareholder profit. That isn't true. It's just the favored solution chosen by sociopaths who climb to the top. Maximizing value does not require minimizing overhead to the detriment of future value creation.

Are you sure about that? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dodge_v._Ford_Motor_Co . https://hls.harvard.edu/bibliography/dodge-v-ford-what-happe...

Yes, this is often wildly overstated. Executives and managers have a pretty broad leeway to run the company how they want, and while shareholders can in principle replace them or sue them, it is pretty rare for them to be particularly activist, especially nowadays where large passive index funds make up so much of the market.

Re: Severance

#95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During an exit interview as I was going to a new job, they let me know my coverage was good until the end of the month. Me, never able to not say something stupid, "Got it. Don't get hit by a bus on the 1st." Dead silence. HR playing ping-pong with their eyes. They eventually told me something like that had happened to a person who'd just left a few months prior to this. One of these days, I'll learn, yeah?

COBRA can be effective (or is inherently) as of the term date so you have continuous coverage. That said, it’s expensive AF

COBRA seems useless af. Often better to just get a personal plan.

Re: Severance

#96
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think you hurt their feelings. I don't think you can have feelings and get into any management position.

My condolences for whatever career path led you to actually believe that

The path of the software engineer?

Re: Severance

#97
post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBRA can be effective (or is inherently) as of the term date so you have continuous coverage. That said, it’s expensive AF

COBRA seems useless af. Often better to just get a personal plan.

How is it useless? It's exactly the same as the plan you were on at your company.

(Source: was on COBRA for the past 18 months, was annoyed that it ran out. Equivalent plans on my ACA exchange cost significantly more.)

Re: Severance

#98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

During an exit interview as I was going to a new job, they let me know my coverage was good until the end of the month. Me, never able to not say something stupid, "Got it. Don't get hit by a bus on the 1st." Dead silence. HR playing ping-pong with their eyes. They eventually told me something like that had happened to a person who'd just left a few months prior to this. One of these days, I'll learn, yeah?

COBRA can be effective (or is inherently) as of the term date so you have continuous coverage. That said, it’s expensive AF

It's expensive in the sense that you now have to pay what your former employer paid (well, 2 or 3 percent more), when often the employer was paying most or all of it for you. After my COBRA ran out a month ago I found that the ACA plans available to me at the same price were a huge downgrade in benefits.

Re: Severance

#99

“What about health insurance?” “Your enrollment will end on the last day of this month, and we will be providing every affected employee with information about extending their coverage through COBRA.” “The last day of the month, so, today?” “Yes, that is correct. On the other hand, our OpenAI and Anthropic accounts are paid quarterly, so you will retain access to your chats and may continue using these tools until th…

Whenever I voluntarily leave a company, I always give my 2-week notice 13 days before the end of the month, and ask to set my last day for the 1st of the following month. My former managers have never cared what date I pick, and always agree.

Re: Severance

#100

Impacted impacted impacted impacted impacted. You've all been impacted.

God I hate when people say that.

I should start acting surprised, and ask why they're telling me about someone being constipated.

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