Does your company show the same red flags as Lumon in Severance?

After years in corporate life, watching 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 hits different. Some things are just too familiar. One scene and you’re back in those whitish corridors under unnatural lighting, buying a snack from a vending machine to power through a sad all-nighter — just so you can report to the Board the next morning and receive indifferent advice to “do better.”

While (hopefully) most companies are more human than Lumon, some of what’s shown there isn’t that uncommon. So here’s a (mostly) lighthearted look at things that are totally normal in 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 — but would be red flags in any regular workplace. Or at least, 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 be.

🔴 𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫

Remember when the main character takes over the macro-data refining department and needs to deal with things he definitely is not prepared for? Here is your manual, now handle a crisis that is way more serious than anything described there. No handover, no real resources, no training — and no power to make actual decisions

🔴 𝐔𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦

Bonding with colleagues is strictly prohibited, especially across departments. Leadership runs vague myths about how “they” betrayed “us” in the past. It’s harder to collaborate, challenge the system, or ask questions when all you see is the grim barbarity of the others. 

🔴 𝐍𝐨 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐝𝐨 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞

Also known as “the work is mysterious and important”. We trust you to do the job, but do not trust enough to explain why. Or don’t respect enough. Or we don’t know ourselves, and then we have no direction as a company. 

🔴 𝐑𝐞𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐬 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭

I love waffles, but would not opt for that waffle party. You can just say I did a good job. If your “reward” is just more work, awkward attention, or a confusing ritual — it’s not a reward. 

🔴 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞

They tell you they have a great work-life balance, and then wake you up in the middle of the night while your son is watching scared. The whole concept of 𝑆𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 implies strict boundaries, but the “innies” actually never leave. And if you 𝑛𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟 leave work mentally, even after hours... that’s a problem.

All those signal problems at workplace, all those can be dealt with, at least to a certain extend. But always good to recognize it, notice, that something is off, and then have courage to address it or take oneself out of the danger zone. 

𝐃𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥 𝐝𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚𝐧?

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐮𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐟𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐭?

Pink Unicorn watches Severance