If you searched for a severance pay calculator, here's the honest answer up front: in most Western markets, including the United States, there is no national statutory formula for severance. Unlike Gulf end-of-service or gratuity, severance pay is contractual — it is whatever your employment contract, company policy or a negotiated agreement says it is.

That's the crucial difference. A Saudi, UAE, Qatar or Kuwait calculator can give you a confident number because the law fixes the formula. A severance figure can't be calculated the same way, because there is no single rule behind it.

What actually determines your severance

Severance, where it exists, usually comes from one of three places: an individual employment contract, a company severance policy or handbook, or a negotiated separation agreement at the point of exit. A common informal benchmark is one to two weeks of pay per year of service, but that is a market convention, not a legal entitlement, and it varies widely by employer, seniority and country.

Severance vs end of service vs gratuity

The Gulf terms — end of service, gratuity and indemnity — are statutory and owed by law once you meet the service threshold. Severance is the Western, contractual equivalent. If you work in the Gulf, the word that applies to you is almost certainly one of the statutory terms, not severance. Our comparison guide breaks down all four side by side.