Negotiate an orderly exit from your employment
Time to leave. Make it clean, paid out, and on your terms.
The way an employment ends shapes what you can do next. We help you negotiate an exit that pays out your full entitlements, removes or narrows post-employment restraints, secures a clean reference, and closes the relationship without a dispute that follows you into your next role. Get the exit drafted properly and you walk out with money in hand, your reputation intact, and the freedom to work where you want to.
What does negotiating an orderly exit involve and why does it matter?
An orderly exit is a negotiated end to the employment relationship, usually documented in a deed of release. The work covers the financial terms (notice, accrued leave, any termination payment, equity treatment, bonus or commission entitlements), the non-financial terms (reference, public messaging, non-disparagement, narrowed restraints), and the legal terms (releases of claims and undertakings on both sides). Under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), employees retain rights to unfair dismissal and general protections remedies, and those rights can only be properly released through a deed entered into freely and after legal advice. A well-negotiated exit closes the relationship cleanly without giving up rights you did not realise you had.
When does an orderly exit make sense?
An orderly exit makes sense when both parties have accepted the relationship is not going to continue and would prefer a negotiated end rather than a termination or resignation that triggers a dispute. It is common after a performance issue, a structural change, an interpersonal breakdown, or a strategic decision to move on.
What is usually negotiated in an exit deed?
The settlement amount, the date of separation, treatment of equity and bonuses, the public messaging and reference, post-employment restraints (often narrowed or waived), confidentiality, non-disparagement (running both ways), and tax treatment of the payment.
Can I keep my equity if I exit by agreement?
This depends on the rules of the equity plan and how the deed characterises your departure. A good-leaver treatment usually preserves vested equity and accelerates some unvested entitlements; a bad-leaver treatment forfeits them. We negotiate the characterisation up front because it affects what you walk away with.
Should I resign first, then negotiate?
No. Resigning before the exit terms are agreed materially weakens your bargaining position and can affect tax treatment of any final payment. The negotiation should happen first; the resignation, if any, is recorded in the deed.
Exit terms negotiated.
Financial, non-financial and restraint terms agreed before the resignation is dated.
Equity protected.
Good-leaver characterisation locked in so vested equity is not forfeited.
Reference secured.
Written reference or letter of service drafted into the deed, not promised verbally.
Thinking about leaving? Negotiate first.
The order matters. Resigning first and negotiating afterwards is the most expensive way to leave a job. The first call sets up the negotiation correctly.
Ready to leave. Want it to land properly.
The relationship has run its course and the smart move is a negotiated exit, not a resignation under pressure or a termination that turns into a claim. You need someone to structure the conversation, sequence the deed terms, and stop you from giving up money or freedom you do not have to give up.
- We will design the exit strategy and the sequence in which terms are negotiated.
- We will negotiate the settlement, notice, leave, equity, bonuses and commissions.
- We will narrow or waive post-employment restraints so they do not block your next role.
- We will secure a written reference or letter of service in the deed.
- We will review the release and non-disparagement terms so the deed protects you both ways.
You have decided this job is not going to continue.
Whether the trigger is a new opportunity, a restructure that has reshaped your role, a performance conversation that did not go anywhere good, or a relationship that has just stopped working, the decision to leave has been made. The question now is whether to walk, resign, or negotiate, and you do not want to give up entitlements, equity, or restraint freedom you would not have to give up with the right structure.
What's included in your orderly exit service
- Pre-negotiation strategy and sequencing of the deed terms.
- Quantification of full entitlements (notice, leave, super, equity, bonus, commission, redundancy where applicable).
- Negotiation of the settlement amount and tax treatment.
- Narrowing or waiving of post-employment restraints.
- Reference and letter of service negotiated into the deed.
- Non-disparagement and confidentiality terms drafted to run both ways.
- Final review and signing.
What goes wrong when people resign first and negotiate afterwards.
Resigning under pressure and then trying to negotiate an exit deed is the most expensive mistake employees make on the way out of a role. Once the resignation is in, the employer has no commercial reason to negotiate, restraints survive at full force, equity is treated as a bad-leaver forfeiture, and any termination payment becomes a goodwill gesture instead of an entitlement. The reference becomes a verbal promise instead of a written term. Months later the employee finds out the restraint is being enforced against them, the equity is gone, and the references being given by old colleagues do not say what they thought they would.
Here is how we sequence the exit so the deed protects you.
We map the negotiation before any resignation conversation happens. The starting point is the financial baseline (notice, leave, equity, bonus, commission, redundancy where it applies), then the non-financial terms (reference, public messaging, narrowed restraint, mutual non-disparagement), then the legal terms (release scope and carve-outs). We open the conversation with the employer in writing, run the negotiation, and document the agreed terms in a deed that signs off everything in one transaction. By the time the resignation is dated, the deed is signed, the payment is calculated, and the restraint that would have blocked your next role has either been narrowed to what is actually enforceable or waived.
Three steps to a clean negotiated exit.
Strategy, negotiation, signed deed.
1
Exit plan mapped.
We map the entitlements, the leverage points, and the order in which terms will be negotiated.
2
Exit terms agreed.
We open the conversation with the employer and negotiate the financial, non-financial and restraint terms.
3
Resignation finalised.
We draft, finalise and sign the deed of release so the exit is documented and complete.
Employment lawyers who negotiate clean exits and protect what you walk away with.
Leaving a role is rarely just a financial transaction. Reputation, references, restraints, and the freedom to work where you want to all need to be negotiated alongside the dollar number. We have negotiated exits from junior roles through to C-suite, and the difference between an exit handled by lawyers and one handled by HR alone is usually visible in the deed and the months afterwards. Our team sequences the negotiation properly, drafts the deed so it protects you both ways, and gets you out with the money, the reference and the freedom intact.
We understand you want to know the cost, before we get started...
We will map out our process, from beginning to end, so you know what the journey will look like before you get started.
We will provide you with a clear and detailed Work Proposal covering each step along the way.
Our fair fees are all-inclusive. No hidden costs for telephone calls, emails, photocopying, couriers, or coffee.
Negotiate the exit before you resign.
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