CEOs sign agreements like this regularly - well, maybe structured a bit differently. The company doesn't want the CEO to leave shorter than some nominal time -

CEOs sign agreements like this regularly - well, maybe structured a bit differently. The company doesn't want the CEO to leave shorter than some nominal time - so some portion of the compensation is structured to mature over time. The CEO doesn't want some uncontrollable market or political shift to put him out of work (with some reputation cost), so some compensation for early separation is negotiated. Employees generally don't get that kind of consideration - especially in established companies. Companies used to have incentives such as pensions that were a generally applicable, long-term retention incentive. However, the market decided that carrying that type of long-term obligation wasn't desirable for companies. In some ways workers benefited too by lowering of their employment switching costs and not carrying the risk that a company doesn't survive or honor those obligations.