Dear Joyce: I got smoked in a company bloodletting -- 25 percent of us (professionals and managers) from three offices were let go. I received three weeks' pay and no other benefits after 18 months of service. Should I have been offered more? -- B.U.

Dear B.U.: The award given to you, to cover costs of your bridge toll to a new job, is a little below average for a professional employee, according to Bill Hollett, senior vice president with global workplace consulting firm Drake Beam Morin (DBM). Hollett's been configuring severance packages for name-brand corporations for 30 years.

Tapping into Hollett's expertise, here are highlights of what you should know if "severance" becomes an important word in your future.

Basis of Award Three components comprise severance package offerings: age, job level and length of service. Most companies use service to determine severance figures.

But Hollett champions the first two: "Severance is a bridge to help you find another job, not a reward for past service. The older the person and the higher the person is in level acts for offers,'' Hollett says.

Severance Prevalence Hollett says that virtually all of DBM's clients offer a severance package; by providing outplacement assistance, they're already showing they want to stand on high ground.

Recent studies revealing how many U.S. companies pay severance aren't available, but Hollett believes the practice is common, although not legally required (except for union and employment contracts). Overall, the trend is running toward slimmer severance packages than were common in the 1980s -- those two-year's-of-pay deals are almost nonexistent today.

Pay Attention to Benefits Accrued but unused vacation pay should be paid in full -- that's the norm.

The federal government mandates that you be provided with COBRA health insurance coverage for 18 months, but you have to pay for it. So get a new job as quickly as you can.

Stock options are a tricky area. You see horror stories about former employees of failed start-ups who owe the IRS millions of dollars on paper profits but who became paupers when the stock died. "Immediately consult a tax specialist before making any move on exercising stock options," Hollett urges.

Be Wary of Noncompetes Internet technology company Cisco Systems recently gave all terminated employees two months' severance; if employees signed a raft of legal releases, including noncompete agreements that prevent them from working for competitors for a given period of time, they got another four months' severance.

Take enough time to think things over before signing and, if you wish, consult an employment attorney, advises the DBM senior vice president. He sees the hated noncompetes disappearing in old-economy companies.

Severance Up-front In what might be a first, chipmaker Intel Corp. is offering severance pay to a group of new college graduates, some of whom received signing bonuses. These grads have been hired but haven't yet begun work.

Intel had to lop 5,000 from its workforce and developed a "reverse hiring bonus," according to "The Arizona Republic." The hello-goodbye grads get to keep the signing bonus plus two months' severance pay not to show up. "Intel is being a good corporate citizen," Hollett believes. "Intel kept the hot young talent off the market during prime recruiting months, and it's the right thing to do to make them whole."

Send career questions for possible use in this column to Joyce Lain Kennedy at Box 368, Cardiff, CA 92007, or e-mail her at jlk@sunfeatures.com. Sorry, the volume of mail makes personal replies impossible.

© 2000, Los Angeles Times Syndicate