“I don't remember if I cried during this meeting or when we broke out into our individual meetings with HR, but I bawled and I felt super embarrassed by it." The truth is: Wu was unprepared for this layoff. And so are most people. And while there was one consolation for Wu's team — they got severance packages, which included several months’ pay equal to their salaries, as well as health-insurance coverage — not all companies offer this benefit.