Let’s have a separation discussion

I’m looking for advice. I used ChatGPT to clean up my draft.

I’m being made redundant, and the process has been a complete mess in my opinion.

Back in April, I was told I was being moved to the parent company. I’m in a senior role (Head of Sales). It turns out I was just passed off to them, and the parent company has no role for me. The incoming CEO of the parent company said, “We’re excited; we’ll honor your current package. The road will be bumpy the next few months as we merge/integrate the two companies, and then we’ll figure out a role for you.”

Meanwhile, a few people in the old company started spreading rumors that I’d been fired, both internally and externally. This reached key partners, and my reputation is in tatters. My mental health is shattered.

I stayed patient, keeping a dialogue with the parent company’s CEO, but got no clarity on the role until about the end of June. But then the narrative changed: “We don’t have an equivalent role, your package is too high, you’ll have to take an individual contributor role and prove yourself.” They gave me an unreasonable target (literally 20 times higher than what they collectively achieved in the region) and couldn’t even specify the currency (AUD vs. USD)! It seemed obvious they wanted me out. But I stayed, providing my feedback, etc.

Then they said, “Look, the business does not have a need; let’s start a separation discussion.” This was in August. They went seeking approvals and literally didn’t get back to me until two months later!

And what do they offer? The legal minimum (notice period, severance based on 3 years of service, annual leave paid out).

So basically, I’ve had 6 months of not being able to earn my commission (approximately AUD 300K) and am likely not to find something else any time soon, especially given the time of year. I achieved 100%+ the past 3 years.

My ask: give me an additional 8 weeks ex gratia, and I’ll walk away. Their response has been that the last week or two during the negotiation are freebies, so take that. And they offered $2K for outplacement services.

P.S.: The culture in the old company is very toxic and, in my opinion, an unsafe workplace. One incident even got to Fair Work. I was targeted by the same individual, but I’m not even bringing that up.

P.P.S.: I know I should have started looking elsewhere, but I genuinely held out hope for a role in the parent company.

What would you do?