What Is Employment Termination?

Employment termination is any instance where a person ceases to be employed by a specific company or organization. Employee termination is not only defined by an employee being fired, but could be used to describe situations in which someone is laid off or resigns. There are many reasons for termination of an employee.

Voluntary Termination

Voluntary termination occurs when an employee decides to leave the company by quitting or resigning. Some examples of reasons for voluntary termination reasons include: accepting another job offer, relocation, returning to school, finishing a employment contract and not choosing an offer of renewal as well as any additional reason why an employee determines to end the employment relationship.

Involuntary Termination by being Fired

Involuntarily termination occurs when an employee is released from employment, regardless of their wishes to stay. In most instances, this kind of termination occurs when a person is fired. Involuntarily termination occurs for various reasons such as performance, unacceptable behavior, insubordination, or a host of other reasons that may have violated company policy in some way.

Involuntary Termination by Layoffs or Attrition

Another involuntary type of termination is company sanctioned layoffs. A layoff is not related to performance, but due to core changes in the company that either necessitate the need for less employees or the need to decrease expenses. This is also referred to as downsizing. The employee could be later called back, but this is not the norm. Attrition is another form of involuntary termination. Attrition is when an employee is given the option to take early retirement or offered a settlement to resign.

Termination by Mutual Agreement

Many terminations are implemented through an agreement between the employer and employee. It could be from job dissatisfaction or any other working condition. Other times it could have something to do with the employee's personal life affecting the performance. It could be for a new position in another company or even a career change. There are also times when termination by mutual agreement happens because the employer wants to fire the employer and offers a mutual termination so the employee does not have to list the fact that they were fired on their resume. Some mutual terminations occur when the employment was based on a contract and the contract is finished, for example when a soldier serves their time in the military and is honorably discharged.

Retirement

Retirement can be another reason for termination. Retirement can include natural retirement from age or from a disability resulting from an injury. Retirement can also result from medical problems, depending on the nature of the medical disability.