This is not a hypothetical in Britain. Many categories of workers cannot be fired on a whim, nor can they quit on a whim. Many people prefer that trade-off.

For example, in 2012, at Timeout, Aksel Van der Wal was promoted to CEO. He had previously been the CTO, and now we needed a new CTO. We made an offer to a person who had a great reputation as an engineering manager at another company. But he was on a contract he could not get out of, nor would his employer let go of him. So we had to wait 9 months, while he finished that contract, before he could join us.

No, because humans and their needs are much more important than companies and the profits of their owners.

Yes? The power imbalance there is obvious. Employers have much greater access to wealth, capital, and lobbyists. As an individual I have no such agency. So yes, trading away risk in exchange for fixed contracts is a great deal in most circumstances. Most of modern finance exists to exchange risk for dollars in some sense.

I would, yes. 30 day terms would work for me as it does for many business to business agreements. I dont agree with the other commentators entitlement to 14 weeks of severance pay in any situation, however

i don't think that's equivalent. it's tremendously easier for a company to fill a position than a person get another position somewhere else. this is a billion+ company. some developers probably live paycheck to paycheck.