While it's still convenient to do so, members recommend that you consider taking these actions before your last day:

1. Credit. You may want to take a loan, refinance your house, get a cash-back rewards credit card, or set up a home equity line of credit while still employed.

2. Share Ownership Plan. Consider dropping out of the Share Ownership Plan early to quickly receive a refund of contributions that won't be used to buy shares.

3. Retirement Plan. Print the statements for your applicable retirement plans.

4. Retirement Medical Savings Account. Print the account statement. Note that if you are retiring before age 55, check your eligibility to retain the accumulated employer matching contributions.

5. Reimbursements. Check the status of your reimbursement accounts while you're still on the payroll.

6. Stock options are covered in the "Urgent action items before you lose internal access" section, above. Untangling the stock you own is in the "Following Weeks" section, below.

7. Insurance. For a limited time, you may have the option to continue certain "portable" company-subsidized insurance plans -- typically Life and Accident -- at your own expense -- after you leave the company.  In addition, you may have purchased insurance discount programs -- such as Auto, Home, Long-Term Care, and Legal plans -- that were marketed by third parties to employees using company facilities and employee-benefits communication channels. HPAA's Insurance page 

8. Classification as "retired."
   - If an employee left at 55 or older with at least 10 years of service, or left after 2010 with age-plus-years-of-service of at least 80, or left under an early retirement program -- HP and HPE generally classify the employee as "retired" -- regardless of how they left and whether or not they have any retiree benefits. This is reported to outside payroll and employment verification services, but doesn't seem to have any negative consequences. Inquiries from state Unemployment Dept. claims examiners go to a specific group in HR, which replies via letter. Over the years, members have reported that HP did not block their UI claims. 
   - If you are classified by HP or HPE as a "Retiree" you should receive a "Gold Badge" and a retirement gift. Members report that some managers and department admins are not aware of this.

9. Medical/dental/vision. Depending on your situation, it may make financial sense to pull forward some pending medical, dental, or vision work.

10. Prescriptions. Work with your doctor and pharmacist to order ahead during any transition in prescription coverage. While transitions usually work, members have reported harrowing experiences that required emergency intervention by the Benefits Center.

11. Microsoft Software. In order to work on your résumé and financial spreadsheet, use Microsoft's Home Use promo offer while you still have a company email address. When you install the promo on your home system, set up the email features of Office to work with your personal email address.
    

Members recommend spending most of your job-hunting time searching outside the company -- you are a stronger candidate while still employed. Very few members report landing during a "redeployment period." Many report losing critical time and wasting valuable energy on discussions about internal jobs that ended abruptly without explanation.

While in the company, you may not have even needed a résumé or a LinkedIn profile. Now you do...

1. Update and strengthen your LinkedIn profile. People check you out before working with you. Recruiters run searches for particular skills and background. In addition, LinkedIn helps you reconnect with people who know you and your work. Check your LinkedIn profile. (Click your photo and select "View Profile.") LinkedIn has been standardizing company names, with odd results. Recruiters view illogical entries -- such as HPE positions before 2015 -- as fake. (HPE changed many decades-old HP positions to display the HPE name and logo.) Watch for typos. You may wish to emphasize (or de-emphasize) some of your experience and background. LinkedIn tricks and traps: hpalumni.org/LinkedIn (You may want to turn off LinkedIn's "Share job changes" default. Otherwise, LinkedIn will notify all your connections -- including managers and co-workers -- about every change.)

2. Modernize the format and update the content of your résumé. Because résumés are now optically scanned into systems -- and automatically searched for key words -- older résumés must be not only be Updated in content but also Updated in format. Pick up a modern book on résumés.

3. Job searching has changed. Hard-won advice from HPAA members: Job Searching and Career -- especially the pragmatic, actionable HPAA video "Job Searching for the Mature Worker."

4. Employment Verification. Learn how it works before you need it: https://www.hpalumni.org/verif

5. Experience Letter. A good idea get a letter from your former employer documenting your dates of employment, last job title, and -- if requested -- salary. Especially if on a visa or expecting to emigrate. https://www.hpalumni.org/verif-letter 

6. You may qualify for Trade Adjustment Assistance or Trade Readjustment Allowances. Government programs for people whose jobs were affected by foreign trade.  https://www.hpalumni.org/TradeAdj
   

Tips from HPAA members on how to handle your last days:

1. Don't resign unless you are willing to give up your severance payment and unemployment benefits. You may be required to train your replacement in order to get severance. (BTW, it is possible to be fired for cause before your last day.)

2. Don't wait until the last day to straighten up your personal computer files and pack your stuff -- this takes time. Don't be out of town your last days. Members report that personal possessions, books, and your email address directory easily get lost as the company prepares to move on without you. Don't forget your plaques and certificates.

3. Have your new email address set up to give to people. Your company email account, autoreply, phone number, and cell number will vanish quickly -- sometimes a couple of days before your last day.

4. Take the time to talk to people, say goodbye, and trade personal email addresses and phone numbers before you lose easy access. If you can't reach someone, send an individual, personalized email. (For legal reasons, many companies forbid managers from giving references for former employees while the manager is still with the company: Verifying employment )

5. Be professional. If you send a farewell email, don't spam the entire business unit. Remember that these are people who may become your employers, co-workers, or business partners in the future.

6. Do your own simple lunch the week after even if there is an official lunch. You can even invite people who are already gone. A bona fide celebration is an important part of the emotional transition process. Leaving a job -- even if eagerly and happily -- has an impact of almost the same magnitude as a death in the family. Don't skip this part of working through the emotional steps.

7. This is a beginning as well as an end.
   

Tips from HPAA members on issues in the following weeks:

1. Waiver and Release.
   - Sample Waiver agreements and related issues: Waivers, SPDs, Rehire Restrictions
   - The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has a helpful guide: "Understanding Employee Severance Agreements"
   - The company very much wants to have your signed Waiver and Release Agreement, which typically has wording similar to this: "Both Employee and HP are entering into this Agreement as a way of concluding the employment relationship between them and settling voluntarily any dispute or potential dispute that Employee has or might have with HP, whether known or unknown at this time. ... In return for the Cash Severance Payment and other benefits associated with the Plan, Employee... forever releases, discharges, and agrees to hold harmless HP... from any and all claims, actions and causes of action arising at any time through the Effective Date of this Agreement... Employee and HP fully understand that if the facts with respect to this Agreement are later found to be different from the facts now believed to be true, Employee and HP expressly accept and assume the risk of such possible differences of fact, and agree that this Agreement shall be and remain effective notwithstanding such differences."
   -  Typical additional wording in recent Waivers: "The parties further agree that this Agreement is intended to be strictly construed to provide for arbitration as the sole and exclusive means for resolution of all disputes... The parties expressly waive any entitlement to have such controversies decided by a court or a jury." Details: Why employers prefer arbitration   HP and HPE Employment Lawsuits
   - You cannot submit the Waiver until after your last day as an employee -- it will not be accepted. 
   - Be sure to provide a personal email address on the Waiver form.
   - Send your Waiver as soon as possible. Easier to troubleshoot if something goes wrong. Forms have been lost after they have been signed for by the company.
   - Get direct confirmation of receipt with a signature. The most secure U.S. Mail method is to fill out the forms in a post office lobby, then go to a window and get "Certified Mail" combined with "Return Receipt." Details on U.S. Postal Service website: https://www.usps.com > Mail & Ship > Insurance & Extra Services  Be sure that the person at the post office window stamps your copy of the mailing forms with the mailing date.
   - You have a limited time to sign and return it in order to receive your severance payment. Details in WFR materials.
   - There is a legally-required seven-day "rescission period" during which you can revoke the agreement.
   - The Waiver says: “You will not receive a confirmation that HPE has received your Release Agreement... HR Operations Organization and Payroll will not respond to phone calls to confirm your Release Agreement was received.”
    - Members report that you should send an email inquiring about receipt of your Waiver. (Include employee number in all correspondence.) You will get a reply that acknowledges receipt of the Waiver, gives the scheduled payment date, and also says: "Severance payments are processed on the 15th and last day of each month provided your waiver has been submitted within the 60 days." The email warns that payments are subject to withholding, but does not predict the payment amount.
      . HPInc address:   hrgs_ams_fwfm_dm@hp.com     [note underscores in the address]
      . HPE address:  hr_global_services_usa_wfm@hpe.com   [note underscores in the address]    
   [From past cycles: Even if you have direct deposit, watch both your postal mail and your bank account.]    

2. Severance.
   Severance policies vary between HPInc, HPE, DXC, and Micro Focus. DXC severance policy
   Getting your severance payment is a slow process:
   - After the company receives the Waiver and the seven-day rescission period has passed, the payment goes out on a subsequent regular payroll cycle.
   - You will get several payments -- the number depends on your situation and the laws of the state you live in. One California member reported receiving five small payments between their last day and the actual severance payment.
   - Watch both your postal mail and your bank account. Some who had direct deposit discovered a paper check in the flood of postal mail from the company.

3. Payout amount.
   - Check your final earnings statement very carefully against what you printed out before you left. Especially an issue with HPE because of HPE's change in payroll outsourcers. Contact Payroll
   - Check that you actually received the gross (pre-tax-withholding) severance payment or PRP bonus that you are supposed to get. Check or dispute https://www.hpalumni.org/payout.

4. Health insurance and other benefits. Your benefits terminated at midnight on your last day.
   You may have been charged via payroll deduction for the entire month of benefits. Contact the Benefits Center to prorate the premiums and get reimbursement.
   If you are continuing health coverage via COBRA or retirement benefits, check with the Benefits Center to be sure the system has been updated. "They couldn't do the surgery because his insurance had been terminated. It took a very long three-way phone call with the Benefits Center and [the carrier] to get his new coverage entered into the system."

5. Transition services. Be sure to take advantage of any transition services provided by the company. Members consistently report that the Lee Hecht Harrison classes are excellent. Typical comment: "LHH was crucial in coaching me in how to find a job in today's market."  LHH is helpful even if actually retiring from the workforce: " Some really interesting self-reflection sessions about what to do in retirement." Find out how soon you must start the program after your last day at the company -- there are expiration dates for the different services. Members report that DXC does not offer transition services.

6. Fleet vehicle upgrade. If you paid an upgrade charge for a company car but were WFRed before the lease ended, you are entitled to a prorated reimbursement. Fleet Issues

7. Equifax Work Number employee account. Even if you are leaving the workforce, set an account up now -- before an identity thief uses your readily-available birthdate and SSN to do it. Your information is in the database regardless of whether you have set up an account. An identity thief can gain further information for use impersonating you elsewhere -- for example, to file for a tax refund or to get credit (HELOCs and mortgages have been reported.) You can then check the information that your former employer reports to potential employers, financial institutions, and government agencies. Employment Verification

8. Retirement Plans -- pensions, 401(k). See HPAA's Retirement Plan Menu. Includes a thorough discussion of the key question: Should you take a lump-sum or a monthly pension?

9. Time to untangle your stock! Depending on when and how you acquired HP or HPE stock, you may now have stock in up to five (formerly seven) completely separate HP-related companies -- HP, HPE, Agilent, Keysight, DXC, Perspecta, Micro Focus -- and may have missed cash payouts. Often in multiple accounts -- related to various employee stock purchase, option and incentive plans over the years -- or in personal brokerage accounts. How many shares of which companies should I have? How much cash should I have received? hpalumni.org/stock

10. Financial benefits accounts. Your employer does stop paying for accounts at the firms that administer the 401(k), stock, option, etc. benefits plans. You need to either move to another firm (paying a transfer fee) or convert to a "retail" account. Members report being hit with surprise "administrative" fees. You must make direct contact with each broker and administrator at least once a year. Otherwise, depending on state laws and the broker or administrator's policies, members report that your stock may be turned over to a state as unclaimed property -- which can be very difficult to retrieve. Members report that checking your brokerage statement online doesn't count.

11. If you are classified as "retired" (discussed above) -- that is reported to outside payroll and employment verification services.

12. More in the "What I Wish I had known before layoff, retirement, or leaving" section of this site.

13. How to Choose a Financial Advisor. Member advice on sorting out the different types of financial salespeople and advisors.

14. Finances. Two practical items recommended by members:
    - "Think you might lose your income? Four money moves to make now" by Michelle Singletary. Washington Post (Several free articles per month.)
    - "Making the Most of Your Money Now" by Jane Bryant Quinn. Explains how financial things really work -- especially good for analytic folks. ISBN-10: 0743269969

15. Company-matched charitable donations. Limited to current employees. Get a tax receipt for your last year.

16. Additional Issues specific to: DXC  EDS  Micro Focus
    

Links to reference info on this site:

1. The key document for a US employee retirement or health plan is the legal Summary Plan Description (SPD). The current SPD takes precedence over any other written, online, or verbal information you may have been given -- but is still subject to change. The employer's plan administrator is required by law to provide the SPD upon request. Log into the plan administrator's website or call.  How to decode an SPD

2. Flexible Spending Account "Your Spending Account" -- including the Dependent Care Claim Form and the Health Care Claim Form.

Question or comment? Email: info@hpalumni.org

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