the.com/golden handshake
The reward for leaving, often bigger than the reward for staying.
means A large severance payment or benefits package given to an employee (often an executive) when they leave a company, whether pushed out, bought out, or retired early.
from A 20th-century business phrase built from plain parts: 'golden' for valuable, premium, lined with money, and 'handshake' for the gesture that seals a deal or says goodbye. It surfaces in English business and financial press by the 1960s, originally describing payoffs to departing executives, especially ones being eased out gracefully rather than fired outright — the money softening the exit so everyone can still shake hands on the way out.
- origin
- Coined in 1960s Britain for ousted executives
- irony
- Failure can pay more than quiet competence
- legal twist
- Sometimes required even after scandal or firing
- real cost
- Shareholders fund the exit, not the executive