[kgtm]

tldr: The author is actually talking about firing an employee, but communicating it as "we need you to leave the company", while at the same time "being generous in financial terms and emotional terms".

Just some perspective: Not sure about the EU in general, but in Greece at least, asking someone to leave the company is synonymous to forcefully making one quit. This arm-twisting has far-reaching implications for the person leaving the company; Namely no unemployment benefits or severance package. I wouldn't want to work for such a company and would actively discourage others to do so.

Just wanted to add some cultural perspective; I am aware the situation in the US (and the author's) is totally different.

[protomyth]

In the USA, you can run into serious trouble if you tell the employee they must leave and then tell unemployment that the employee left of their own free will.

[einhverfr]

I took it to mean a way of telling someone they were fired. I would assume the individual would represent the employee as terminated regarding unemployment etc.