Layoff vs. Termination — What's the Difference?

A temporary or permanent discharge of an employee or employees due to economic conditions or company restructuring.

Can have a negative impact on one’s professional record and future employment prospects.

Generally not due to employee performance or misconduct.

It is a focused action often involving individual employees and is usually the last step in a progressive discipline process.

Often affects multiple employees and is usually economically driven.

Typically related to an employee’s performance, behavior, or violation of company policies.

A separation from employment that is initiated by the employer and can be subject to recall.

The action of terminating something or the fact of being terminated

Might offer the possibility of reemployment if conditions improve.

A word's final syllable or letters or letter, especially when constituting an element in inflection or derivation.

A layoff or downsizing is the temporary suspension or permanent termination of employment of an employee or, more commonly, a group of employees (collective layoff) for business reasons, such as personnel management or downsizing (reducing the size of) an organization. Originally, layoff referred exclusively to a temporary interruption in work, or employment but this has evolved to a permanent elimination of a position in both British and US English, requiring the addition of "temporary" to specify the original meaning of the word.

An ending or result of a specified kind

The act of suspending or dismissing an employee, as for lack of work or because of corporate reorganization.

The act of terminating or the condition of being terminated.

A period of temporary inactivity or rest.

The end of something in time; the conclusion.

A dismissal of employees from their jobs because of tightened budgetary constraints or work shortage (not due to poor performance or misconduct).

An end of something in space; a limit or edge.

A period of time when someone is unavailable for work.

A result; an outcome.

A short pass that has been rolled in front of another player for them to kick.

(Linguistics) The end of a word, as a suffix, inflectional ending, or final morpheme.

A bet that is laid off, i.e. placed with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.

The process of terminating or the state of being terminated.

The act of laying off an employee or a work force

The process of firing an employee; ending one's employment at a business for any reason.

An end in time; a conclusion.

An end in space; an edge or limit.

An outcome or result.

(grammar) The last part of a word; an ending, a desinence; a suffix.

(medical) An induced abortion.

A word, a term.

The ending up of a polypeptid chain.

The act of terminating, or of limiting or setting bounds; the act of ending or concluding; as, a voluntary termination of hostilities.

That which ends or bounds; limit in space or extent; bound; end; as, the termination of a line.

End in time or existence; as, the termination of the year, or of life; the termination of happiness.

End; conclusion; result.

Last purpose of design.

A word; a term.

The ending of a word; a final syllable or letter; the part added to a stem in inflection.

A coming to an end of a contract period;

A place where something ends or is complete

Something that results;

The end of a word (a suffix or inflectional ending or final morpheme);

The act of ending something;

The act of ending an employee's contract or employment relationship.

Generally denotes a permanent end to employment with little to no chance of rehire.

Yes, depending on company circumstances and policies, some employees may be rehired after a layoff.

Generally, termination is considered final, but specific circumstances or employer policies might allow for reversal or rehire.

No, layoffs are generally not related to employee performance but to economic conditions or organizational restructuring.

Typically, yes, termination usually results from poor performance, misconduct, or violation of company policies.

While termination is usually due to individual actions or performance, it can occasionally relate to economic conditions or restructuring when it involves ending specific roles permanently.

Yes, termination, especially for cause, often affects eligibility for unemployment benefits.

No, layoffs are typically due to organizational or economic factors and not the fault of the employee.

Typically, yes, employees laid off for economic reasons are generally eligible for unemployment benefits.