Severance Pay ,

Severance pay is paid for terminating employment .
This can be layoff , job elimination ,restructuring or mutual agreement. If employee agreement do not stipulate any serverance pay , there is no obligation on employer to pay.

But normally employer get rid of any future claims, litigation through signed release along-with Severance Pay.

Severance pay is a positive and good thing from employer ,when job is lost through uncontrolled external circumstances. ( For example current financial turmoil ).

Japan still have the mind-set of life-time employment (Though changing) and hence in most of cases employer pays for loss of employment.In general holiday and other monetary benefits ( other than Bonus ) are also compensated.

Normally bonus is paid - if you are working till the pay-date. Off-course if retrenchment happened unfairly just before bonus , you can complain to labor office. And in good circumstances labor office may negotiate this to fair-portion.

Japanese firms like to keep low profile in such circumstances and in general for employees with two years with firm 3 months of salary plus unused holidays are paid. For more experienced employees up to 5 months plus unused holidays is the norm.

Senior employees and Managers need to negotiate . In a recent financial melt-down there are examples of 18 to 24 months of severance pays tied with signed release.

So there is surely more to watch while leaving too.

Happiness at Work

Ravindra Prasad has written an article on employee happiness on rediff.
In my opinion "Plan your week on Sunday night or Monday morning" is the most important in this list. It is surely more than mundane "to do list".

Those who are aware of Coveys most popular work "7 habits of highly effective people", will recognize that weekly planning is much more than effective time management.

Week is the basic planning block for realizing your long term goals which stems from personal mission statement. A motivating mission statement ,is the one which runs as a central thread in all decision making and planning. Preparing smart goals that reflect mission statement is the first step in good and effective time management. Now breaking down these goals in small chunks of weekly target is just a matter of working with details.

Personal mission statement and weekly planning complements each-other and sure way to lead purpose driven and satisfying life. This is applicable to personal as well as work-life.
No doubt that "7 Habits" has become a one of the most important work of our lives.

In my humble opinion introducing 7 habits at work-place in teams and with individuals is one concrete step towards happy employees.