Boeing offering voluntary buyouts to entire staff of 161,000 employees

[disneysteve]

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-02/boeing-expected-to-announce-voluntary-buyouts-to-all-employees

Pretty drastic move

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Okay I'm going to ask something stupid. Why would you take a buyout? I mean if you are young maybe, but if you are young are you also not worried about finding another job? And if you are old? Sounds like a good deal if you are ready to retire anyway. Or you are financially secure enough to retire no matter your age and this icing on the cake. But in general why would anyone take the buyout and risk not finding another job? Or am I being seriously stupid about worrying about finding another job?

[disneysteve]

Okay I'm going to ask something stupid. Why would you take a buyout? I mean if you are young maybe, but if you are young are you also not worried about finding another job? And if you are old? Sounds like a good deal if you are ready to retire anyway. Or you are financially secure enough to retire no matter your age and this icing on the cake. But in general why would anyone take the buyout and risk not finding another job? Or am I being seriously stupid about worrying about finding another job?

Your employer is teetering on the edge of an abyss. You have the opportunity to take the buyout and get something and then go out and search for a new job. Or you can forgo the buyout and stay on with the company. They may still go under or more likely trim the staff more if not enough people took the initial buyout offer and the next round of firings won't come with benefits. Then you'll be just as out of a job and won't have benefited from the buyout offer.

It's a gamble either way. Sure thing: take the buyout. Or take your chances: stay on and hope you don't lose your job anyway.

[kork13]

My brother & his wife (and her father) all work for Boeing on the Defense side.... so less impacted in theory. But I'll have to ask them about if/how they're affected.

I'm not well-versed in the parlance -- what exactly does a "buyout" entail? Is it basically a layoff but with separation pay? The article doesn't really give much detail.

[disneysteve]

My brother & his wife (and her father) all work for Boeing on the Defense side.... so less impacted in theory. But I'll have to ask them about if/how they're affected.

I'm not well-versed in the parlance -- what exactly does a "buyout" entail? Is it basically a layoff but with separation pay? The article doesn't really give much detail.

They haven't released the terms of the buyout offer but yes, it's typically being let go with some sort of severance package. If your family members work for Boeing, they are included in this. The article says it is EVERY Boeing employee.

ETA: I just saw that the article was updated. It no longer says the buyout will be to every employee so that may have changed.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Okay so young person severance and chance to get a job. Middle age = worry you can't land a job. Older person = take severance and start retirement. It's someone like me around 35-55 do you take it? I don't know. What if in this market you can't land a job in 6 months? What if you are close to 50 and ageism hits? What if the market for jobs just shrinks because there are so many people looking?

I can see the benefit for super young and close to retirement people. But the people in the middle with the most bills = kids, mortgage, etc. Do you take the risk or guarantee the security of a income and then look while you are still at least employed

[TexasHusker]

Okay so young person severance and chance to get a job. Middle age = worry you can't land a job. Older person = take severance and start retirement. It's someone like me around 35-55 do you take it? I don't know. What if in this market you can't land a job in 6 months? What if you are close to 50 and ageism hits? What if the market for jobs just shrinks because there are so many people looking?

I can see the benefit for super young and close to retirement people. But the people in the middle with the most bills = kids, mortgage, etc. Do you take the risk or guarantee the security of a income and then look while you are still at least employed

Right now you can score a minimum of $52,000 a year on unemployment, so that's not a bad gig. Getting paid not to work.

[disneysteve]

Right now you can score a minimum of $52,000 a year on unemployment, so that's not a bad gig. Getting paid not to work.

That's only temporary, though. Four months, right? And then what?

As you've said in other threads, and I agree, a lot of jobs won't be coming back. I heard of one tourist attraction in Orlando that has closed permanently. Just today, I heard of a local restaurant that announced they will not be coming back. Boeing sees the writing on the wall. They aren't going to be selling a bunch of new planes for a long time. They need to trim their workforce and slash expenses to survive. I've now seen numerous predictions that air travel may get shut down for a time this summer.

So sure, you can collect unemployment for 4 months but after that, what happens?

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Wait how do you know it's $52k/year? That seems like a lot more that what my friends have said. Also that's a lot in LCOLA but in high cost of living areas that's not enough.

[TexasHusker]

Wait how do you know it's $52k/year? That seems like a lot more that what my friends have said. Also that's a lot in LCOLA but in high cost of living areas that's not enough.

That’s annualized. In Texas, you get around $500 a week from the state. With corona, you get $600 a week from Uncle Sam. That’s $1100 a week, and there’s 52 weeks in a year...

[~bs]

take bailout if you're going to retire soon anyways or if you have other prospects. Nice gesture by the company. they could have just laid everyone off.

[Nutria]

That’s annualized. In Texas, you get around $500 a week from the state. With corona, you get $600 a week from Uncle Sam. That’s $1100 a week, and there’s 52 weeks in a year...

But unemployment insurance only lasts 26 weeks in Texas.

[Fishindude77]

I've never taken unemployment but friends that have tell me it's something like $450 per week here.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

And the Federal Bailout is $600/week for 16 weeks right? Then it's back to $500/week for 26 weeks. That's annually $26k plus you do pay taxes on it. So it's not as much as it seems.

Plus to get the $500/week how much do you have to earn? Do the people making minimum wage get the maximum payout?Or is it more people who have been max contributing to it? Because if it's based on income then let me tell you a boeing worker is likely making way more than $500/week. Even $1100/week chances are they are earning more than that. So it's still a wage cut.

But it's been so long since I've been on it, I don't know and I never actually got it. I found a job before it processed. So how proportionate to earnings is it?

[~bs]

I'm sure the unemployment will get extended to a year or longer. It did for the 2009 recession, and that wasn't nearly as bad. unemployment in my state is 65k annualized. Not bad living for me, i keep my expenses low. I know other people that will be deep in the red.