4 Ingredients of a "Typical" Severance Package
March 02 2016
Layoffs and terminations are an unappealing, but necessary part of being a business leader. The benefits you offer departing employees reflect strongly on your company's ethics, values, and leadership. While it's important to maintain consistency and get legal advice that this article is NOT attempting to offer, business leaders often ask us what's "typical" in a severance agreement. The answer is that there is no "typical" severance agreement. Severance is completely voluntary and its purpose is usually a function of affordability and risk management designed to recognize the difficulty of eliminating a position. That said, here are 4 common ingredients in many severance packages:
Some of the first questions we ask our new clients are, "why would a smart, highly-skilled person want to leave a great job to come and work for you?" Or, "what keeps your best employees happy and why do they want to stick around?" Remember, when you hire someone fantastic, somewhere out there another company leader is freaking out over losing a valuable employee. Educate yourself before it's too late Here are 5 reasons great employees quit:
Despite what employers may wish were true, it's no longer a buyer's market. Highly skilled people have lots of opportunities, so employers who get creative about enticing candidates will often "win" the best and the brightest people. These days it's about more than a 401k and a foosball table—employees want inspiring perks that make a difference. According to a recent poll by Glassdoor (plus our own experience), some of the most appreciated 21st century benefits are truly creative, and not all that expensive! Take a look:
If you haven’t heard of Glassdoor, you’re behind the times. Glassdoor is the “Rate My Professor” of Employers. Before seriously considering an opportunity with you, every potential candidate under 40 will head straight for your company’s profile to check out your employee reviews, salary reports, and even scope out your interview process. Glassdoor also allows current and past employees to rate you, which can have a direct impact on your hiring process. Translation: the more green you see on your profile, the better. Here’s how to use the good and the bad to your advantage: 
Recruiting real talent to your company takes bold, hard work because the best people are usually working somewhere else. Sure, you can post your job on CareerBuilder and watch as the unqualified resumes start pouring in—but that’s not recruiting, it’s advertising. Recruiting is reaching out to qualified people to sell them on your opportunity. To do this, you have to arouse their interest enough to get them to talk to you and then quickly determine what it would take for them to make a change. We call this the ‘Hook.’ As you recruit passive candidates (people who are not actively looking for a job) you’ll encounter roadblocks. Here’s our advice on overcoming the most common pitfalls: 
A new year is a great time to take a closer look at your company to find areas for improvement. Many CEO's and company leaders are largely in the dark about one critically important area: how new people are hired and brought into the company. How involved should you be and what information should you know? If you can answer these 8 critical questions, you've got a great handle on hiring. If not, make 2016 the year you dig in and learn about how new people join your company. 
Interviewing can be just as stressful on the hiring manager as it is on the job seeker. It’s wise to have an interview strategy in mind ahead of time in order to get real answers to questions that matter most to you. Asking questions like, “So tell me about yourself” or “Do you consider yourself a team player” are fine, but to really determine if your candidate is a great fit, you have to “dig deeper.” After establishing whether your candidate has the skills and experience you need, formulate additional situational and behavioral questions to help you gauge your candidate’s enthusiasm, work ethic, communication style, and resilience. Here are 5 great interview questions to ask and examples of what the answers can mean. 
You've heard terrible things about Millennials: they have a sense of entitlement, expect huge starting salaries, and can’t communicate without social media. Despite what you’ve heard, Millennials can breathe new life into your team—if you hire the right ones. Asking situational and behavioral questions helps you determine if they have the skills and work ethic to add value to your team. Here are 3 questions to ask Millennials before you hire:
Hiring a manager is a big deal. It takes a lot more complex work to find the right company leader than to interview and hire a receptionist. Treat your hunt for a great manager with care and remember that you’re evaluating potential people who will make important decisions on your behalf. This is not a place to cut corners! Here are our most valuable tips to help you hire great managers.
