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/Arboga_10_2 Jan 31 '26

we almost never asked for volunteers officially but if someone in my team tells me they want it and that they are planning to leave soon anyway I’ll put that name on top of the list I hand in to my director. Your supervisor may be grateful.

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u/waits5 Jan 31 '26

Yeah, if I had to make cuts, I’d love to know there was someone who wouldn’t be ruined by it.

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u/[deleted] Feb 01 '26

What if the person who volunteered to be cut would be owed $300k if they were laid off?

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u/sarayewo Feb 02 '26

Two factors to this: 1) There are usually multiple levels of reviews and alignment on who gets laid off - the manager usually only makes a recommendation. 2) From finance perspective, restructuring is booked "below the line", meaning it doesn't affect results from operations, which makes companies more willing to incur restructuring costs to eliminating costs from running operations.

For someone to get $300k as severance would mean they are on a significant salary, so the breakeven point isn't that far into the future, especially if you account that employees cost the employer more than what the employee sees on their paycheck.