The woes of the housing market, a bearish stock market and huge associate increases are causing some HR Directors to begin planning for another professional recession like the one that followed the tech bust five years ago. One of the concerns is that the layoffs of staff, associates and, then, some partners, came in waves and the severance benefits changed from wave to wave. Generally they were more generous for the earlier rounds of layoffs than those that came later. 

While most firms do not have a stated severance policy, a survey of corporate policies can provide some insights into what are the business standards. The median number of weeks of severance pay based on years of service and position equivalents were: