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I have never, ever understood this whole mandated period thing. Aside from what you mention -- do you really want to keep these people around against their will -- I don't understand how your (ex-)employer can force you to do anything against your will. All you have to do is say "no".

Yet people keep believing mandated work after a layoff is a thing.

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It's not against their will. It's a part of the contract they signed when they started working at the company. The contract stipulates how it can be terminated (in accordance with the local law). If it says each party can terminate a contract with a prior notice of two weeks, the contract is enforced for those two weeks after giving in the notice. There's still an employee-employer relationship at this point, even if the employee gave their notice.

In some countries the notice period can go for months. Usually it gets longer with the tenure. It allows both parties to transition and prepare in advance.

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I was forced to work out a 3 month notice period at my previous company in the UK. I don’t see the point of keeping an already-checked out employee around so long when you have basically no way of getting anything but the bare minimum out of them.
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