Termination / Severance

Definition

The formal end of employment, often with a financial package (severance) in exchange for signing away legal claims. It's the corporate equivalent of a 'we mutually agree to never speak of this again' agreement.

Example Usage

After being terminated, Sam received four weeks of severance and had to sign an NDA preventing him from discussing his 'coaching experience' with anyone.

Origin

Severance became formalized in the 1980s as a way to manage both legal risk and employee morale during layoffs.

Fun Fact

The average severance package is 2-4 weeks of pay per year of service, though this varies wildly by seniority and legal jurisdiction.

Source: Employment Separation

Related Terms

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Talent Acquisition (TA)

The department and process responsible for sourcing, screening, interviewing, and hiring new employees, essentially the company's eternal search for people who will actually show up.

👥 Human Resources

Intermediate

salary benchmarking

The practice of comparing your compensation levels against market data to ensure you're paying competitively. The corporate version of checking if you're getting ripped off.

👥 Human Resources

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Callout Culture

The practice of publicly identifying and criticizing individuals for perceived misconduct or insensitivity—workplace accountability that bypasses HR and goes straight to social media.

👥 Human Resources

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retention bonus

A payment incentive designed to keep critical employees from leaving during uncertain periods, paid upon reaching a specific future date. Bribery with a vesting schedule.

👥 Human Resources

Advanced

above-the-line

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👥 Human Resources

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KPI

Key Performance Indicator: a number that determines your worth as a human being every quarter. The corporate equivalent of a video game score, except nobody is having fun and the prizes are just more KPIs.

💼 Corporate / Business👥 Human Resources

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