# Block's 7 Weeks Is Really 19. Call Qualcomm's India Engineers First

_Severance terms set call order after the November tech layoffs: Qualcomm India has about 13 weeks of runway, Block 19 to 23, Canva 26 or more._

- Canonical URL: https://www.refolk.ai/blog/tech-layoff-severance-call-order-qualcomm-block-canva
- Published: 2026-11-13
- Reading time: 9 min
- Keywords: tech layoff severance packages, Block layoffs severance, Qualcomm India layoffs, when to contact laid off candidates, hiring laid off engineers

If you're holding a list of people from the November layoffs, you need to know who to call first, and the severance headlines point you at the wrong group. Canva pays at least six months, Block's headline number is seven weeks, and Qualcomm is reportedly paying an extra month to anyone in India who signs within three days. Read the headlines alone and Block's engineers look like the first call. Add in Block's pay continuation and Qualcomm's India engineers come first.

## Who should you call first after the November layoffs?

Call Qualcomm's India engineers first, Block's Cash App and Square people second, and Canva's people last on urgency but with the most care. The order comes from runway, which decides how long each group can afford to wait for the right job.

Runway is the number of weeks a laid-off person can cover living costs from severance and pay continuation before they start spending savings. It tells you how a candidate is likely to respond. Short runway means they'll take a call fast and decide fast. Long runway means they'll take your call and then compare you to every other option, including doing nothing for a while.

Here's what the November rounds (plus Meta's May round as a reference point) look like for someone with three years of tenure:

| Group | Minimum cash runway (3-yr tenure) | Healthcare | Headline matches in Refolk's index | Sample still at company |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Qualcomm India | ~13 weeks, ~17 if signed within 3 days | Lump sum (unconfirmed) | 12,226 (India) | 76% (19/25) |
| Block / Cash App US | ~19 to 23 weeks (10 weeks severance plus 60 to 90 days continuation) | COBRA, length undisclosed | 177 (US) | 60% (15/25, Cash App + Block) |
| Meta (May round) | 22 weeks | 18 months | n/a | n/a |
| Canva | 26+ weeks | Up to 12 months | 1,056 (Australia) | 88% (22/25) |

The runway figures are my own math from the reported terms. I converted 60 to 90 days of pay continuation into about 8.6 to 12.9 weeks. The profile counts are headline keyword matches, so treat them as minimums.

> **~13 weeks** Minimum cash runway for a 3-year Qualcomm India engineer
>
> Canva's floor is 26 weeks, so the gap between these two groups is the biggest in the November rounds.

## Why Block's "seven weeks" is really about 19

Block's November package looks thin because the headline only counts severance and leaves out a separate pay-continuation period that sits on top of it. Add both together and a three-year Block engineer has roughly 19 to 23 weeks of cash, about the same as Meta's 22.

Business Insider first reported the terms from an internal FAQ. Block's US package includes:

- At least 7 weeks of base pay
- 1 additional week per year of service
- At least 60 days of pay continuation
- A $5,000 transition payment
- COBRA health coverage, with no stated length

Because the continuation period is counted separately, the seven-week figure misleads. Business Insider describes the November package as "roughly equivalent" in value to February's 20 weeks, and that's before tenure weeks are added.

Reports don't agree on the length. Coverage based on Business Insider says 60 to 90 days of continuation. Quartz describes "the 30 days added." Block hasn't disclosed a headcount for this round, which mostly hit Cash App, with some cuts at Square. For comparison, Jack Dorsey's February round cut more than 40% of staff, about 4,000 of 10,000, and paid 20 weeks plus a week per year and six months of healthcare.

The practical point is that Block's people are not the most desperate group on your list. They're in the middle.

## Qualcomm India: call on day four, not day one

Qualcomm's India engineers have the shortest runway, but a call during the first three days is wasted. The three-day deadline is for signing the release, not for taking a new job. Call on day four or five, once the paperwork is done and the person is free to interview.

Cristiano Amon announced Qualcomm's global restructuring on Oct 20. India cuts started in Bengaluru on Nov 9, with Hyderabad, Chennai and Delhi-NCR to follow. Pareekh Jain of EIIRTrend estimates about 1,000 or slightly more of roughly 20,000 India staff, and analysts expect another round in January.

The reported terms, which Qualcomm hasn't confirmed:

- About 3 months' pay tied to tenure
- 1 extra month for anyone who signs within 3 days
- Some employee posts describe 2 weeks base plus 2 weeks per year instead, with a 2-day signing deadline

### Finding the right 8%

In Refolk's index of professional profiles, 12,226 people in India have "Qualcomm engineer"-type headlines. In a sample of 25, 19 still work at Qualcomm. They cluster in Hyderabad (10) and Bengaluru (7), with titles like post-silicon validation, physical design and power validation.

So the visibility problem here is the opposite of Block's. An estimated 1,000 cuts is about 8% of the visible India profiles, which means most of the people a keyword search returns still have jobs. Searching on the company name alone will flood you. Narrow by team, city and function instead, starting where the cuts began. That is the search [Refolk](/) is built for: describe the engineer in plain English, with the city, the silicon function and the employer, and get back a ranked shortlist instead of 12,226 headlines.

> **Example search:** "Post-silicon validation and power validation engineers in Bengaluru who work at Qualcomm or left in the last month" - [run it on Refolk](https://www.refolk.ai/s/mjp4g781xb)
>
> A ranked shortlist of matching engineers across professional profiles, GitHub and the open web, with current employer and location so you can tell who's actually been affected.

### Why the deadline changes your timing

A release is the document a departing employee signs to waive legal claims in exchange for severance. Qualcomm's bonus pays people to sign it quickly. For three days, everyone affected is busy with one decision: sign now for the extra month, or hold out. A recruiter's pitch during that window is noise.

Once they've signed, the picture flips. Most will have taken the extra month, so they have about four months of cash and nothing stopping them from interviewing. That's when your call lands. Keep the list after you're done with it, because if the January round happens you'll need a second one.

> **Engineering roles open in Bangalore** - [see the open roles](https://www.refolk.ai/jobs/search?family=engineering&location=bangalore)
>
> Engineering openings in the city where Qualcomm's India cuts began.

## Block and Cash App: the group keyword search can't find

Block's affected engineers are the hardest group to find by keyword, and that cuts down your competition. Only 177 US profiles in Refolk's index have "Cash App engineer" headlines, and 9 of a 25-person sample, 36%, already work somewhere else.

> **177** US profiles with a "Cash App engineer" headline in Refolk's index
>
> In a sample of 25, nine had already moved to companies including Meta, Figma, MongoDB, SoFi and Upstart.

A search for "Cash App" finds a small slice, and over a third of that slice is out of date. Keyword searches will miss most of the people affected. Sourcing this group by hand means opening generic "Software Engineer at Block" profiles one at a time and guessing which team each person was on, often for a role your client needed filled last month.

Recruiters who look past keywords have the advantage. Two channels work better than keyword search:

1. **GitHub activity.** Block has open-source projects, and contributor histories show who worked on what, even when the profile headline says nothing.
2. **Alumni referrals.** The nine early leavers in the sample now work at Meta, Figma, MongoDB, SoFi and Upstart. They know who was on their old teams and who just got cut.

## For Block's Americans, health coverage sets the clock too

For US candidates, health coverage creates as much urgency as cash. Block's open-ended COBRA terms leave that pressure in place, while Meta and Canva remove it.

Meta's May round paid 18 months of family healthcare. Canva covers up to 12 months where it already provided coverage. Block's November round names COBRA without saying for how long. For an engineer with a family, that unknown is a monthly bill that keeps arriving.

Then look at how long job searches actually take. In September 2026 the median US unemployment spell was 11.5 weeks, up from 10.1, and the mean was 24.8 weeks. A mean that much higher than the median means some people take a very long time to land. A Block engineer with 19 to 23 weeks of runway sits just under that mean, so anyone in the long tail runs out of severance before they find a job.

That tells you which offer terms will land with this group:

- **An earlier health-plan start date.** Remove the waiting period if the client can.
- **A signing bonus sized to cover COBRA.** Present it as health coverage, because that's how the candidate will think about it.

## Canva: pitch scope, because speed won't win

Canva's people have the longest runway and the most options, so calling them first gets you very little. You're competing with the startup they might found, not with unemployment, and the role's scope is what wins.

Canva told 1,271 employees, 22% of staff, on Nov 3, and Melanie Perkins's severance note set out a package generous enough to change how candidates behave:

- At least 6 months' salary, "regardless of where they're based"
- Up to a year of healthcare where Canva already provides it
- The 1-year equity cliff waived
- MacBooks kept
- A $10K grant for founders and community ventures

Six months of cash, equity they keep and a grant aimed at founders make starting a company a realistic choice, not a fantasy.

> You are not competing with their unemployment. You are competing with the startup they could found.

They're also easy to find. Refolk's index has 1,056 people in Australia with "Canva engineer" headlines, and 22 of a 25-person sample are still at Canva, mostly in Sydney. The titles lean toward machine learning: Senior and Staff ML Engineer, plus a Distinguished Engineer. Every recruiter running a "Canva" search sees the same profiles, so expect crowded inboxes.

Your first message should say what the person would own, how big the problem is, and who they'd work with. "Senior ML Engineer, competitive comp" gets lost among similar messages. "You'd own ranking for a product with X users, reporting to a founder who shipped Y" has a chance, as long as X and Y are real.

## The call sheet: order, timing and offer terms

Order your outreach by runway, time each call around the group's deadline, and fit the offer to what each group is short of. Big-tech severance usually lands near 16 weeks, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas and Simple Severance, and the tech and communications average is 11 weeks. Measure each group against those numbers.

1. **Qualcomm India (about 13 to 17 weeks).** Call on day 4 or 5 after notification, never during the signing window. Lead with a fast process and a start date. Keep the list for a possible January round.
2. **Block / Cash App US (about 19 to 23 weeks).** Call early. Find them through GitHub and alumni, not headlines. Lead with health coverage and a COBRA-sized signing bonus.
3. **Meta May alumni (22 weeks, 18 months of health).** A reference point more than a November target. Health coverage isn't their worry, so pitch the work.
4. **Canva (26+ weeks).** There's no rush. Lead with scope, and expect to compete with founder plans and a crowded inbox.

## FAQ

### When should you contact laid off candidates?

Wait until any signing deadline has passed, then call within the first week or two. For Qualcomm India, that's day 4 or 5 after notification, because the first three days go to the release decision. For Block, call early, while people are still taking stock of their options and before every other recruiter has found them.

### Is Block's November severance worse than February's?

On paper it looks worse, but Business Insider describes the November package as "roughly equivalent" in value to February's 20 weeks, before tenure weeks are added. The bigger difference is healthcare. February came with six months of coverage. November names COBRA without saying how long it lasts.

### Does a long severance mean candidates are harder to hire?

They're more selective, not necessarily harder to hire. Canva's six-month floor, waived equity cliff and $10K founder grant mean you're competing with their own plans. Recruiters who lead with the scope of the role and a specific problem do well. Recruiters who lead with urgency don't.

### How do I find laid-off engineers whose profiles don't name the company?

Look beyond headlines. Read open-source contribution histories and ask alumni at the companies where early leavers landed. For Block, where only 177 US headlines mention Cash App and 36% of a sample has already moved on, this is most of the job.

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_From the Refolk blog. More posts: https://www.refolk.ai/blog/index.md_