The exit package offer typically comes when the PIP starts. It gives the company a way of getting rid of you without the hassle. If you go on to fail the PIP, then you get nothing.
What if you make their life difficult by claiming you have a hostile manager, or that you’ve been mistreated, or that company policies on harassment have been violated, or that you’ve been discriminated against, or that you have health issues that need accommodation? I bet there is a way to force them to pay you to leave. Although I think for me personally it would be a step too far ethically.
Hmmm, like one PIP I got to watch self-destruct up close, where (not at Amazon or a FAANG, but a tier 2 tech company) a manager set a series of actually reasonable deliverables around a new product launch.
And then showed up with HR on day 30 and said "after a long review and careful consideration of the deliverables you were asked to produce, we have determined they do not meet our expectations", only to have aggrieved employee pull up the GDocs activity log to show manager and HR that manager had never so much as opened any of the deliverable documents. Manager then retorted "we talked about this on Slack", only to have the same thing, a series of questions, updates, etc., from employee over the PIP period with literally not one reply or reaction from the manager.
That's me I'm screenshotting the hell out of those and when you want to try to fight my unemployment claim...
I’ve known companies to give exit packages on firing to avoid a lawsuit since you sign away rights to sue for illegal firing and it’s a nice cheap bribe. Mostly the big lawsuit targets do this. Not usually as good as the layoff package, but something. But not all places do it, of course. I mean even layoff packages are optional, really.
I guess it’d depend on the state.