Willing to bet that the value of unemployment benefits trumps the value of Sprint's offered package by several orders of magnitude given the level of the employees likely to be laid off.

Very common, actually. They look for volunteers first, and then wield the axe on the optomists that stay behind. If you have reason to think your employer might file for Chapter 11 or 7, it's best to take the package and run, don't walk, to the nearest exit.

Oh, and take the check to the company's bank and CASH it. I know people from Eastern Air Lines, Braniff Airlines #2 and Continental Air Lines #1 that still have their last paychecks framed on their walls. They were returned from their banks with "NSF" stamped on them.
Chances are your local managers don't know the entire story about how bad things really are - It is not wise to rely totally on what they tell you.

however, you can't collect a severance & unemployment benefits at the same time & the term of severance payments are subtracted from the max # of weeks (26). so, if you get 2 months (8 weeks) worth of severance payments, you are only eligible for 18 weeks of unemployment benefits.

conversely, i believe (not 100%) that if you receive a lump sum payment of your severance, you are eligible for the full 26 weeks of benefits.

I was upset one time since at the first place even though such a program was in place, three tiers of management kept it hush-hush and I was not able to take advantage of it even though I was bailing before things turned ugly anyway. The managers only told the people they knew they were going to be laying off shortly anyway.

The other place was very forthright about the situation, much better.

I like this scheme better than the other one I encountered. Cut everyone's hours so they get paid less. Then the ones that need to find new jobs because of the lower pay will. Then you can get back to regular hours. The reason I did not like that is because of all the extra work I had to do in less hours, all the extra work I had to pick-up as others left, and the fact that I did not know when it would end. (2 months, 4, a year?)

Oh look ! writing on the wall....and...its .....trying....to....tell...me....something.

Severance packages don't happen often anymore, and even when they do, they're more like 2 weeks' pay, if that. At lots of places the severance package is allowing you to take home the personal items in your cube instead of tossing them in the trash.

I like the idea of having a buyout or exit package on the table AHEAD of time year round .I've left companies and found out almost 3 months after the fact I was entitled to a buyout .If I had known this upfront my plans would have changed completely .And that's the point: a buyout with an exact dollar figure makes it much easier to plan .

As many good people that might leave alot of the not so good might take it as well .You might insult people with a poor buyout but a voluntary buyout doesn't cause the consternation of layoffs and/or fake firings .

I take it the US has no concept called 'voluntary redundancy'.
They ofter take place before manditory redundancies.
The company (or govt agency) asks for volunteers from people who would be happy to leave [with redundancy payment]. They usually have a target number/locations etc that they announce.

If undersubscribed then they usually have a following round on the not so voluntary redundancies.

I worked Fed gov in OZ and they had a funny version of the manditory redundancies - the swap. Redundancies were always oversubscribed in one state and undersubscribed in aother. So you could swap. one of the oversubscribers would swap positions with the people in another state who ten moved to take that persons job.

Trust me - asking for colunteers before pushing is a good thing.

KT

Take the package.

Take the package.

Take the package.

Take the package.

In case you missed it the first couple times I said it...

Take the package.

Take the package.

Take the package.

I currently work as an "Authorized Retailer" for sprint and I HATE selling their service. I usually sit on the phone for an hour waiting for someone to figure out what they are doing and I always seem to reach some low paid person that can't speak english.

If they are laying off some of those people, I'm afraid of what can be worse.

John Garcia is gone

[www2.sprint.com]

...so they're cutting across the board

In this case, they are asking you to resign, then you get this weird "Voluntary Separation Package", and maybe don't qualify for unemployment.

What would YOU do?

I'm actually kind of curious because I don't know what I would do. First thing that comes to mind is the obvious unemployment figures and all the competition you would be facing trying to get another job. At the same time though, its been getting so bad that it can only get better right? Maybe I'm just being Naive (or hopeful)?

@CyrusOpeth: It's because it's news that may affect the support that we are "comfortable" with over at Sprint. Us, being Sprint customers, mind you.

And, yeah, it can be said that any company that adjusts its personnel roster can be classified as "normal behavior and readjustement" especially after a merger, however, it can also lead to something that is a bit more frugal down the pipes.

this is better than what most companies do to avoid paying unemployment. they just cut your hours down to next to nothing so you quit.

You can collect your severance, and collect unemployment benefits. The only thing with accepting severance is, if you agree to take it, you can't turn around and say negative things about the company.

In the layoff that came later it was a lot less generous, but there was still severance. You got unemployment though.

Some people really made out in taking the first buyout.

How is this big news? Many companies do this...my company has offered several packages through the years - whether its called "attrition", "voluntary lay off", etc., basically it works the same: tell them you'll leave and sign to leave on a specific date (which may be very short term or as much as a year or two, depending on the circumstances). When you go, you get a bonus. Is it better than maybe getting fired and getting unemployment? Depends on what they offer. If they offer a couple months worth of benefits and, say, 4 months pay, then I'd say its worth it. It all depends on your situation...

@Meat_Shield: yeah, that crossed my mind too. You'd only get unemployment if you quit under extreme circumstances.

Unfortunately, my crystal ball isn't working.

I'm curious - if it comes down to a lay-off, would they have a severance package?

@snowburnt: Not long before there is a "materially adverse" change to their employment contract.

if i were working for sprint, i'd start job hunting now.

Says a spokesperson, "No one is being forced to do anything"

Yes, anyone who has dealt with Spring is aware that this is a long-standing company policy.

So does this mean that we'll get the same inept CSR's over and over again as opposed to fresh new ones?

I can't tell if I'm excited or disappointed.

I really hope Sprint doesn't go under. Even with the customer service issues, Sprint offers the best bang for the buck (after two days in hell speaking with them...still worth it!).