those people quit without having to pay out any severance.

As companies look towards leaner years, it seems like some are using return to office or bonuses to dry to drive people to voluntarily resign and save the company money over firing.

If that’s what it is, it makes sense they’d prioritize keeping people who put in extra effort over the people who log off at 5 on the dot everyday.

Also, the people I tend to give deadlines to are the ones who I worry will never get things done otherwise. So the answer to “why is this the deadline?” might very well be “because I’m not confident you’ll get it done in a timely manner without a deadline”