Severance Package Estimator: Is Your Offer Competitive?

Put in your numbers. Find out in 60 seconds whether your offer is competitive.

Most severance calculators tell you what the formula produces. This one tells you whether the result is any good.

Enter your industry, years of service, annual salary, and the offer you received. The estimator compares your package to 2024 industry benchmarks from Challenger, Gray & Christmas and LHH across more than 8,000 severance agreements — and tells you where you stand.

How the Estimator Works

The calculator uses a two-part benchmark model. First, it applies the industry average formula for your sector — derived from the Challenger 2025 Severance Benchmarking Report — to produce a "market-rate" estimate for your tenure. Second, it compares that estimate to your actual offer and scores the gap.

The output tiers are:

Below market means your offer is materially below the industry average for your tenure — typically more than 20% below. This is where negotiation is most clearly warranted.

Near market means your offer is within a reasonable range of the benchmark but may have room on specific line items (COBRA, equity, outplacement) even if the cash number is close.

Competitive means your offer is at or above the industry average. That doesn't necessarily mean there's nothing to negotiate — benefits, equity, and restrictive covenants are often independent of the cash figure — but the headline number is defensible.

At or above generous means your offer matches or exceeds what the top-of-range companies (Meta, Google, Salesforce formula-level) would produce. Pushing hard on cash here is unlikely to move.

What the Calculator Doesn't Cover

The cash weeks number is only part of your package value. Three things the estimator can't quantify — but that matter enormously:

Equity and unvested stock. If you have unvested RSUs or options, the value of those is often larger than the cash severance. Whether your employer is vesting you through the next scheduled date, accelerating any amount, or forfeiting everything immediately changes the total picture significantly. No benchmark tool can model this without knowing your specific grant schedule.

COBRA structure. Whether your health coverage is paid directly by the employer (non-taxable) or handed to you as cash in lieu (taxable, worth 30–45% less after withholding) affects real dollars. The calculator uses industry norms for COBRA but can't tell you how yours is structured without reading the agreement.

Restrictive covenant scope. A 20-week package with a two-year non-compete that prevents you from working in your field is worth materially less than a 15-week package with no restrictions. The calculator doesn't score what you're giving up — only what you're receiving.

For a complete picture, you need someone reading the actual agreement — not just the headline numbers.

If Your Offer Came Back Below Market

A below-market result from the estimator means one thing: you have documented, data-backed leverage to negotiate. The next step isn't to call HR and say "the calculator said I deserve more." It's to prepare a written counter offer that cites the specific gap and makes two or three targeted asks.

The most effective asks are the ones with the biggest dollar impact and the highest employer concession rate: extending COBRA duration, adjusting the formula to include bonus in the base calculation, and vesting through the next scheduled equity date. These three often move more than the headline cash figure, and they're easier for employers to approve because they don't require changing the stated severance policy.

If your offer came back at or above market but you still feel the package is unfair, that's likely a sign that the issue lives in the clauses — the non-compete scope, the non-disparagement language, the clawback provisions — rather than the formula. Those require a different kind of analysis.