<prompt> Human: A round of layoffs happened yesterday and more are to follow. Those laid off received a severance package of 1 month pay and 1 month health insurance. My understanding is this is a fairly normal severance package for non managementnon executive employees. If Im laid off in the near future, what can I realistically ask for when trying to negotiate my own severance package? Im a Senior Paralegal who has been with the company just under 2 years. I report directly to an executive who is Senior Vice PresidentGeneral Counsel.Is it reasonable for me to ask for 2 months pay and 2 months health benefits and start negotiating from there? Thoughts?  <response>: If theyre just laying you off the severance is them doing you a favor, you have nothing to negotiate with. If theyre giving you advance notice and want you to work up until a certain date rather than leaving and taking another job, then you have something to bargain with. In that case you have something to bargain with. If you get another job offer, that one month package is less appealing because you might spend more than a month unemployed. When I was in a situation like that I got a whole years salary as a retention bonus, but they were asking me to stick around for 6 months rather than take another job. Of course, then it took me 6 months to find my next permanent job. 