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Severance: The Cautionary “Work/Life Balance” Tale You Need to Watch
Severance is a cautionary future of work tale. And, if you haven’t seen this hit TV show, then you really should commit to watching it.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I watched Apple TV+’s astounding science-fiction thriller, Severance.
Here’s the premise: a large but obscure tech company conducts a medical procedure on its workers called “severance.” A chip implanted deep in their brains separates their “innie” (at work) and “outie” (outside of work) memories.
The result? At work, severed employees possess no memory of their outside lives. Outside of work, they have no idea of what they do for a living.
Severance weaponizes work/life balance.
Framed another way, the series flips a switch, to make this deep desire of many old school hiring managers reality: while they’re here, I own them.
Ugh.
Severance is gloriously absurd. But the thing about cautionary tales — especially highly entertaining TV dramas — is that they often serve a noble purpose. And the purpose of this brilliantly scripted and acted drama is to ensure that inconceivable workplace models like…
