The thing with severance is that the employer has got to want to get rid of you.
The tricky part of being a word class expert in a high demand field is that they often don't.
I suppose you could start exhibiting a level of obnoxious behavior until they can't stand you anymore - but this is Canada.
The only thing I can think of that would drive my employers into a rage would be to put trash in the wrong recycling bin.
I'm in this boat - I've very good at what I do and well liked by both colleagues and the customers we support (very technical IT job). I think the company will make concessions and allow me part-time (pretty rare) when I spring my retirement on them, I don't think they'd be open to a severance package, heck, I don't think I can even get them to give me the restricted shares that haven't vested yet (I get a long term bonus every year of restricted shares that see 1/3 vest every year for the next three years).
Unfortunately these kinds of myths are perpetuated by those who have never received a severance or spoke with an employment lawyer (they’ve probably never even scheduled an appointment with HR over coffee just to chat. It’s one of the first things I do after joining a company. If you haven’t, you should try it. They’re nice people and it’s fun!)
First, Severance is a negotiation like any other. If an employee is supposedly competent then they should be pretty good at negotiation. If not, then I would question their self-assessment. I’ve never met an exemplary employee who sucked at negotiating (I’ve met lots of employees who think they’re exemplary who sucked at negotiating however)
Second, An exemplary employee should also know what they’re worth. And tenure and re-employability is indisputably part of what an employee is worth. That fact is clearly supported by Canadian case law. Any employee that is completely blind to their value can’t be as good as they think they are
How smart would you consider a financial planner that completely ignored the value of a 6 figure asset? Not very
And trust me, every single person in HR does NOT willfully ignore the value of an employee’s loyalty and re-employability. Guaranteed
Third, Most employees perpetuate severance myths because they’re trying to hide their ignorance behind the “I’m a loved and awesome employee” narrative, which gives them permission to remain ignorant. Despite the dollar amounts involved. Again, the cost of ignorance in this case doesn’t sound like the intelligent trade that an exemplary employee would make
American employees would be shocked to learn what Canadian employees are paid in severance. Shocked. And I think they would be even more shocked at how many Canadians forfeit these amounts through sheer ignorance alone
Perhaps others are wealthier than I, but Personally I’ve never loved an employer so much that I would sign over a 6 figure check with my name on it
(And that’s exactly what I said to the 60-ish senior employee when he told me that he was thinking of resigning - “Are your retirement accounts so stacked that you’re willing to forfeit a quarter million dollars?”)