Hi, my name is Alex Granovsky and I’m the Managing Member of Granovsky & Sundaresh. We’re an employment law firm based in New York City.
Today, I’m going to go over the most frequently made mistakes by people who are negotiating their own severance agreements.
The most frequently made mistake is not negotiating. If there’s one bit of advice I can give to every single person who has received a severance agreement: Ask for more money. It all comes down to those four words. The biggest mistake that you can make in negotiating your severance agreement is failing to negotiate. That’s number one.
Second, the biggest mistake people make is undervaluing their claims or their leverage. You are not being offered severance because your employer is nice. You are being offered severance in exchange for waving claims. Some of those claims might be valuable. It is very important that you know what they’re worth. That’s the second most common mistake.
Third, and I see this all the time, people get bogged down in the details. “Oh, you know this person wrote the TPS report, not me.” Or, “Actually, the chart is 4.7, not 4.6 .”
Focus on your future, not the details of the past. I guarantee you that the person you’re negotiating with probably doesn’t care. Don’t get bogged down in the details.
Last, people make this next mistake all the time. Do the math. People think, “Oh, well I need a month of benefits.“ I agree with you – benefits, health care are super important, but benefits are something you buy with money. When people get focused on, “I want three months of benefits continuation,” they fail to do the math that one month of salary continuation can buy them six months of benefits. So, you really need to do the math and understand what it is you’re bargaining for and prioritize.
Now, obviously I’m a little biased. I think everyone should hired an attorney to negotiate their severance agreements. We do that. If we could be of any service to you, feel free to reach out. Thanks for watching. Goodbye.