ASAP Checklist    Wish I Had Known    Current Employee    Former Employee

1. Join the independent HP Alumni Association. If you are in the process of leaving HP Inc or Hewlett Packard Enterprise, join the 28,000-member, independent, volunteer-run HP Alumni Association. (The "HP Connections" LinkedIn group for current and former employees only carries samples of what is available to members of the HP Alumni Association.) The HPAA has private Benefits, Transition, and Finance online forums, where we work on key issues. Also US job openings, technical help forum, and other member services. No charge to join, thanks to HPAA members.  Join the HPAA 

2. Documents. We hear regularly from members attempting to reconstruct their employment-related records. Due to policy changes, country-to-country variations, reorganizations, acquisitions, divestitures, and spinoffs, it may be extremely difficult or impossible for your former employer to produce this information. (For example, HP-related companies have used at least 13 US stock administrators.)
   Only you have the documents that applied to your specific situation at the time:
   - Locate your offer-of-employment letter, documents covering any bonus or incentive plan, and other material covering the contractual terms of your employment.
   - Gather the documents that detail each batch of employee stock you have acquired, your retirement plan, 401(k), etc.
   - Collect documents that prove your employer and pay -- for example, W-2's that give each employer's legal name, such as "EDS, an HP company" vs "HP Enterprise Services" -- and the amounts of any commission or bonus pay. Keep copies of paychecks for your last year.
   - Print out anything provided by the company via web or email regarding the terms of your termination, retirement, or severance program.
   Make a separate set of copies to study and mark up.
   Keep these employment-related documents in a safe place with your other permanent documents -- plus an off-site backup in case of fire or other disaster. Don't depend on your work email account or company-issued computer.
   You may need this information for employment verification, security clearance, claiming a class-action settlement, divorce or child-support, or other legal issue. And your heirs will need to locate your assets.

3. Be sure to use the very helpful official "leaving" site for your company -- both accessible outside company firewalls:
   "Leaving/Retiring from HP" https://www.leavinghpinc.com   (Official HP site: password no longer required.)
   "Leaving Hewlett Packard Enterprise" https://www.leavinghpe.com   (Official HPE site: password no longer required.)

4. Unused vacation time and Floating Holiday.
   - Unless your "primary work location" is in CA, IL, MA, MT, or NE, all earned but unused vacation/PTO will be forfeited. ("Available" vacation includes the amount you could have used in advance of earning it.)  Policy was in place at least by May 2014. Check the current list of states in the materials you get from the company.
   - One member who changed address with the company because they temporarily moved in with in-laws discovered that their unused-FTO situation changed.
   - In some states, you should let the unused vacation flow to your final paycheck. In other states, the company has decided that they don't need you anymore -- so use up your vacation time!
   - Non-exempt employees must download a paper timecard and fax it to the company to not delay processing for PTO.
   - Take your annual Floating Holiday, if you have not already done so.

5. Cashflow and tax withholding.
   - Prepare for cashflow impact due to the unpredictability of your last paycheck and other checks sent after your last day -- and how quickly you get a new job. It is nearly impossible to predict the amounts and timing of the last checks -- due to tax withholding and monthly payroll cycles. Some members report receiving a "mop-up" check many weeks later. 
   - Cashflow is also affected by tax withholding from final checks. (One member had a grand total of 46% withheld form their final check for federal and state income tax, Social Security, and Medicare.) You will get credit for any excess withholding when you do your taxes -- but this hits your cashflow at a critical time.
   - For salary and vacation payout -- which may be on the same check -- withholding assumes that you make that much every month.
   - However, severance, commissions, and option exercises are taxed at a flat 25% federal "supplemental wages" rate. Your state may also have a flat supplemental rate (CA: 10.2% for stock bonuses and 6.6% for other bonuses.)
   - The withholding rate may be too low if dual-income couple, highly paid, other income, large severance, or large stock option exercise. Use your tax software to simulate your next annual tax filing to determine if you should make an estimated tax payment or hold onto funds to pay with your next tax return. Just copy last year's file to a new filename and modify the input data for different scenarios -- retirement, new job timing and salary, etc..
   - Consider filing a revised W-4 online with the company as soon as you know you are leaving or being laid off -- well before your last day. (Cannot change after last day.) Use the  Official IRS Withholding Calculator -- you no longer have to pretend that you have 14 kids.
   - Re-run your taxes several weeks after your last day -- you may need to make quarterly federal and state estimated tax payments to avoid penalties.
   - See IRS Publication 505 -- "Tax Withholding and Estimated Tax"

6. 401(k) issues.
   - If you won't have a 401(k) plan after termination, consider immediately increasing your 401(k) contribution setting to reduce taxes and -- if your last day is after the next match payout -- to get a bigger match from the company. Check the current matching rules for your company. For example, at both HP and HPE. the match is mentioned in each Earnings Statement but is only credited annually -- and only if you are on the payroll through December 31. For those being spun off to DXC or Micro Focus, members report that the next 401(k) match payout will be on the date of their transition.
   - If your new employer has a more generous 401(k) match, consider dropping your HP 401(k) setting to 0%.
   - The 401(k) contribution deducted from your final paycheck will be a percentage of the total gross on that paycheck, which is hard to predict.
   - If you have a loan against your 401(k), you may be required to pay off the loan to avoid a penalty. Check your documents.
   - When reviewing old financial records, note that HP originally gave its 401(k) program the confusing name "TAXCAP" -- "Tax Savings Capital Accumulation Plan."  1984 HP Annual Report   1998 Measure Article (pages 8-10)   2004 SEC filing

7. Stock options or other incentives.
   - You need to determine immediately if you have unexercised options that will expire upon termination. Read that section in your WFR or Retirement document, print out your stock option history, and refer to the stock-related sections on the official "Leaving HP" or "Leaving HPE" site (item 3 above.) On that site, there is a link to a Merrill Lynch brochure on "Equity Awards," disclosing the transaction cost to sell your shares. Since the company eventually stops paying ML to administer your account, the brochure also discloses annual "inactive account" and "low balance" fees.
   - You need to get your options report twice -- before your termination date and again after your termination date. The report you get before you leave doesn't tell you what will happen to your options after you leave -- for example, the expiration date may be pulled forward.
   - The key: Options are not compensation that you have earned -- they are designed to retain you as an employee. Once you leave, unexercised options are only relevant to the company as a potential expense.
   - To receive “retirement treatment” on equity awards, you must be age 55 with 15 years of qualifying service or age 55 with at least 70 age-plus-service "points."
   - If transitioned to DXC or Micro Focus, stock and options issues: https://www.hpalumni.org/stock

8. Earnings statements and future W‑2s. Log into your account at the company's payroll service. Print out the most recent earnings statements and any other online-only statements you want to keep. Members report that having W‑2 copies for every year helps in legal situations such as tax audit, divorce, or child support. Set up password recovery questions and check that the email address on the account will reach you in the future -- otherwise, you will not be able to recover account access for future W‑2s such as a severance or retirement payment, stock incentives, or the inevitable miscellaneous cleanup payment. Instead of online statements, you may wish to change your account to paper statements. Advice from members: https://www.hpalumni.org/W-2

9. Flexible Spending Account. Check on the amount you have available and the rules for using it. You many have to use up the balance before your last day.

10. Credit card. Move out any company credit card points before your card is cancelled. Ensure that all charges have been approved by the company -- and print out proof of the approval. Members report that AMEX is trying to collect from former employees several months after they left.

11. Share Ownership Plan. If you participate in the Share Ownership Plan, study the terms and print the full history information that you'll need later for selling shares and doing taxes.

12. Email and phone: (Member advice: Moving your personal business off the company's systems)
    - If you have personal calls coming to a company landline number, notify your contacts to change the number they have for you.
    - If you have a company-paid cell phone account, you need to either set up a new cell phone account (with a new number) and notify your callers -- or use the form on the company site to have the cell phone number reassigned to your personal cell phone account. Your company cell phone number may vanish quickly.
    - If you don't have one, you can get a free or low-cost personal email account in a few minutes (Member advice: How to set up a professional email account.) 
    - If you have personal email directed to your company address (such as Amazon) change the email address on each account. Notify your correspondents.
    - If you have any personal data in an online address book or similar, copy it out.
    - Your company email account, email autoreply, and phone number will vanish on or before your last day. Emails get this ominous reply: "Recipient address rejected: User unknown in virtual alias table" -- which may not be passed on to the sender by their email service (or may be interpreted unfavorably by the sender.)

13. Company-owned computer. Start the transition and cleanup early -- this can take considerable time. If you don't have a personally-owned computer, buy one ASAP. Your computer may be collected before your last day -- or possibly wiped remotely while still in your possession. Be sure to find the company's instructions in your WFR or other termination documents. Returned computers have been lost. Ship with signature-required. If returning in person, insist on a receipt. Member advice: Moving your personal business. Wired article: How to digitally erase all your stuff when you quit your job.

14. Patents. For status of your patent incentives and patent plaques:
    HP -- ip.incentives@hp.com  
    HPE -- hpe.ip.incentives@hpe.com

15. Recognition Rewards or eAwards. Check any incentive or reward account you have -- you may be surprised. Spend the points before your last day. Get a debit card or search for "Amazon" to get a $25 card for 101 points. Charitable Donations for as little as 1 point.  

16. Health insurance and other benefits.
    - Your benefits terminate at midnight on your last day. If you are continuing health coverage via COBRA or retirement benefits, check with the Benefits Center to understand your coverage and the actions you need to take before -- and after -- your last day. "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 UHC to get his new coverage entered into the system."
    - You will generally qualify as a retiree if you leave HPI or HPE at age 55 or older with at least 10 years of qualifying service. To receive “retirement treatment” for retiree medical benefits, you can also qualify as a retiree if you have at least 80 age-plus-service “points.”

17. HPShopping. Change your email address at hpshopping.com to a personal email address. Difficult and slow to change after you lose access. (You may need to buy a new system somewhere to replace your company-owned equipment.)

18. Evaluations. Print out copies of your past performance evaluations. Many report that the rating they received before WFR was suddenly and inexplicably much lower than the ratings on previous evaluations. How to obtain a copy of your personnel file to assist in developing your résumé: HP  HPE.

19. Training and certifications.
    - Print out the list of courses that you have taken through the company -- including courses taken through third parties such as SkillSoft -- for your files and to help with your résumé.
    - Use the company's online training facilities to complete courses and renew certifications -- for example, clocking training hours to renew your PMP certification.

20. Corporate travel sites. If you have an account on a corporate travel site -- such as Carlson Wagonlit -- remove your personal membership information -- i.e. frequent flyer numbers, hotel loyalty account, driver's license, etc.

21. Mailing address. Ensure that the company has your current home mailing address. Even if you have direct deposit, you may receive a paper check in the flood of postal mail from the company. HP change-of-address

22. Read "What I wish I had known before I left" -- comments from members: Wish I Had Known.

23. Additional Issues specific to: DXC EDS Micro Focus

24. If you haven't already done so, join the actual HP Alumni Association. (The LinkedIn groups for current and former employees only carry samples of what is available to members of the HP Alumni Association.) The HPAA has private Benefits, Transition, and Finance online forums, where we work on key issues. Also US job openings, technical help forum, and other member services. No charge, thanks to HPAA members. Join the HPAA 

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 has been moved to 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 you 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 -- HPI and HPE generally classify you as "retired" -- even if WFRed.
   - If classified by the company as a "Retiree" arrange for your Retirement Gift and "Gold Badge" with your manager or department admin. Members report that some managers are not aware of this.

9. Health coverage.
   - Print out anything provided by the company via web or email regarding the terms of your termination, retirement, or severance program. Find and study the references to health coverage.
   - You will be instructed to view your health options online. However, to fully understand your eventual retirement health plan, download the most recent HPI or HPE Annual Enrollment Guide  Even if you have a paper copy, it is very helpful to use Adobe Reader's search feature to find specific words or phrases. (To search for a word or phrase in a pdf file, press Ctrl and F together on a PC -- or Command and F on a Mac.)
   - Then call the appropriate Benefits Center to go over your specific situation in detail -- which may include COBRA, reimbursement accounts, Medicare, coverage for dependents, etc. Phone numbers and member advice: HPAA's Contacts page  

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

11. 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.

12. Microsoft Software. In order to work on your résumé and financial spreadsheet, use Microsoft's Home Use promo offer if you haven't already done so. You can get MS Office for your home PC or Mac for $10 while you still have a company email address. When you install the promo copy of Office on your home system, set up the email features of Office to work with your personal email address.

Urgent tasks if you are not leaving the workforce  Questions or comments? info@hpalumni.org

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

1. Review and strengthen your LinkedIn profile. Recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates. You can use LinkedIn to reconnect with former co-workers who know you and your work. Many HPAA members report that LinkedIn helped them find a new job. Checked your LinkedIn profile lately? You may be surprised. Use HPAA's LinkedIn Tips and Traps. LinkedIn doesn't work the way you might think it does!

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. If on a visa or expecting to emigrate, arrange for an Experience Letter from the company. Helpful discussion on StackExchange: Sample letters that got accepted and rejected

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

Your last days 

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 possessions, books, and personal email address files 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 -- perhaps 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.

Following weeks  Questions or comments? info@hpalumni.org

Tips from HPAA members on issues in the following weeks:

1. Waiver and Release.
   - The US 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   HPI 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 US 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 US 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.
      . HPE address:  hr_global_services_usa_wfm@hpe.com   [note the underscores in the address]    
      . HP address:   hrgs_ams_fwfm_dm@hp.com     [note the 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 HP, HPE, DXC, and Micro Focus. DXC severance policy
   Getting your severance payment is a slow process:
   - After the company receives the Waiver and seven days have 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.
   - In the past, some have reported that check amounts were visible through the envelope windows.

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 the 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 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 UHC 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. Employment verification. It is a good idea to check the information that you can cause to be reported to potential employers, financial institutions, and government agencies. Learn how it works: https://www.hpalumni.org/verif

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

9. Time to untangle your stock! With any employer, no one but you really cares about your employment-related stock. You may have stock in up to seven HP-related companies. With each spinoff, the cost basis for your shares changed. Many find stray accounts -- or need to retrieve stock or dividends turned over to a state as "unclaimed." You could pay taxes twice on the same income. Your heirs may not find it all. An HP Alumni team developed a step-by-step process to find it, protect it, and prevent double taxation. Go to Employee Stock

10. Financial benefits accounts. The company will 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 abandoned 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 I left" section of this site.

13. 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

14. Additional Issues specific to: DXC  EDS  Micro Focus

Additional reference info

Links to reference info on this site:

1. For reference, the HPAA has copies of the most recent Health Plan documents and sample Waivers and Summary Plan Descriptions. Wherever possible, you should use copies you received directly from the company.

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

3. Employment and salary verification.

Please help us keep this information up to date -- email: info@hpalumni.org

The Hewlett-Packard Alumni Association is operated by former employees who volunteer their time. Not endorsed or supported by any company.