Conventional termination: the amount of your severance pay, depending on your sector and your status

The conventional termination entitles you to severance pay, often negotiable upwards. In 2021, the median amount of this compensation was 1,465 euros, but it can vary considerably depending on your situation.

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Hit the jackpot by quitting your job? This is the attractive hope of the conventional termination, this amicable separation device between employee and employer which is gaining popularity every year. As proof, in 2023, more than 515,000 agreements were signed, according to figures from the Ministry of Labor. It must be said that this option is much more advantageous than resignation or dismissal, since it entitles you to generous financial compensation. If legal severance pay – equal to ¼ of a month’s salary for the first 10 years of seniority, then ⅓ of a month’s salary per year of seniority after 10 years – is provided, you can also increase the stake by negotiating a supra-legal compensation with your employer.

But before telling him about your desires elsewhere, it would be wise to know the amount you can expect when you leave. According to a report from the Directorate of Research Animation, Studies and Statistics (Dares), published in August 2022the median compensation received during a conventional termination is 1,465 euros. Clearly, in 2021, half of the employees who opted for an amicable departure received compensation greater than this amount, while the other half received a lower amount. But be careful, this amount varies greatly depending on your seniority, your professional status or your sector of activity… So many parameters which can increase – or decrease – your compensation.

Above all a matter of professional status

Very often, when it comes to bargaining, the executives are doing well. Negotiation during a conventional termination is no exception: in fact, 57% of them manage to obtain a severance payment exceeding by at least 5% that provided by law. On the employee and worker side, it’s a different story: only 19% and 17%, respectively, achieve this performance. Several explanations for this. First, because as the Association for Executive Employment, Apec, points out, “executives, who through their profession are experienced in negotiation, are more likely to negotiate their salary»and therefore their starting conditions. A profitable strategy: according to Dares, for equivalent seniority and salary, executives receive on average 0.30 months of salary per year of senioritycompared to 0.25 months for employees and workers.

But these more generous severance payments cannot be explained solely by negotiation alone: ​​with higher base salaries, executives automatically benefit from greater compensation. Result, the median starting envelope of the frames is five times more important : 5,280 euros, far ahead of the 1,100 euros for workers or the 1,000 euros for employees. If the differences narrow with seniority, the trend is not reversed: count on 32,170 euros if you are an executive with more than 10 years of seniority, compared to only 9,990 euros for a worker.

In short, working in areas where managerial jobs are more numerous, such as bank or theinsuranceincreases your chances of being in the high compensation range. On the other hand, sectors likeaccommodation or the restorationwhere qualified positions are less frequent, are much less generous. It’s up to you to demonstrate your qualities to your boss during the negotiation!