If they can be bypassed, they do not provide assurance. A work contract provides assurance, if it has clauses on separation and severance. I have never had an

If they can be bypassed, they do not provide assurance. A work contract provides assurance, if it has clauses on separation and severance. I have never had an actual contract, and have been fired at-will five times. I can't exactly say that "the company lost a big customer and wouldn't be able to make payroll" is arbitrary or capricious, but that only accounts for one. The rest, while never elucidated, were likely as follows: "the stock is at an all-time high, and we don't want any more of your options to vest", "we bought your company but don't want to keep you" (x2), and "we think you might blow the whistle on us blatantly gaming all of our metrics". I've only even had the chance to get out of Dodge before any axes fell once. A lot of these companies have been for [contractor] government work. I think the contractor companies would only enact such a policy if the largest customers demanded it. They won't do it just because they value employee retention highly, because clearly [to me] they do not.