A severance offer is a contract; read it as one
Along with the last day, you may be handed a paper that offers pay in return for a signature. That signature usually releases the company from claims you might have had, including ones you have not thought about yet.
What is on the other side of the page
Pay for a set number of weeks, a stretch of health coverage, sometimes a neutral reference. Against that, a release, a promise to keep quiet, and often a promise not to say anything bad about the company.
What is open to change
More than people expect. Weeks of pay, the wording of the reference, the length of any restriction and the date it all takes effect can often be asked for. The first offer is the company’s opening position.
Read the whole thing
Five terms I look at first
The release
Which claims you give up, and whether it reaches ones you do not know about.
The deadline
How long you have to decide, and whether signing early changes anything.
The pay and benefits
How much, paid when, with what taken out, and what happens to coverage.
The silence
What you may and may not say, and about whom.
The restrictions
Non-compete and non-solicit terms that follow you to the next job.
Ask for time, in writing
You can ask for more time
A request for a few more days is ordinary, and most companies agree. Make it in an email so there is a record, and say that you want to have the agreement reviewed.
Do not sign on your last day because a manager is waiting. Do not reply to HR with objections before we have talked either. A hurried answer is hard to take back.
An email asking for time is enough
Send the paper to me before you reply
Nothing is lost by reading it carefully
What people ask about the offer
Is the first offer the final offer?
Often it is not. Weeks of pay, benefits and wording can sometimes be negotiated, and I will tell you which terms I would raise.
What if I refuse to sign?
You keep whatever the law already gives you, and you give up the extra the company offered. Whether that trade is worth it depends on what you might be giving up.
Can I sign and still have a claim?
Usually a signed release ends claims it covers. Some rights cannot be signed away, and I will say which. That is a reason to read the paper before you sign it, not after.
Holding a paper you have not signed?
Send me the page with the deadline and the page with the release. I will read the rest with you.