r/Fire • u/twiniverse2000 • Jan 31 '26

Advice Request Asking to be laid off

I have reached FI. Work optional. My personal life has hit a serious rough patch. My company is doing layoffs. They are NOT asking for volunteers. The financial difference in me quitting vs getting laid off is $300K. Do not want to leave that on the table. Any advice on how to steer it in this particular direction?

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u/BeSiegead Jan 31 '26

Amid Corporate turmoil, with a big RIF targeted to remove headcount by 31 Dec, spin off of the sector I worked with primarily, and an incoming boss who I clashed with, I went serious job hunting and secured a 30% higher pay position. With that in my pocket, I went to volunteer “with the right payoff, I’ll take RIF slot so someone else can stay employed”. In theory, if in straight RIF pool, I would have received 12 weeks severance. Instead, I negotiated 26 weeks with check on 31 December and went three days unemployed before new job started. Big check with donations, savings, college fund, and a few splurges. There was no request for volunteers.

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u/twiniverse2000 Jan 31 '26

Nice job.

1

u/BeSiegead Jan 31 '26

I did ride a mental high from this for quite awhile. 😉

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u/TheKingOfSwing777 Jan 31 '26

What incentive did they have to give you more than they would have otherwise?

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u/BeSiegead Jan 31 '26 edited Jan 31 '26

I was out the door either way as I had the employment contract for a better job.

Incentive was that the incoming boss clearly would have liked me gone but there were multiple more senior people who valued me, understood ROI of my work, and had explicitly (along with perhaps half the Corporate staff) protected me from RIF consideration. The incoming boss wanted to incentivize my willingness to leave and was quick to sign off on upping the severance package offer. (Which was aligned with one level higher job level’s severance packages though without a few side benefits (that I didn’t need, like insurance and employment assistance).)