Managers and other salaried office staff were offered a buyout of their work contract because FedEx was overstaffed and was eliminating costs. If they allowed them to leave early without affecting their pensions, would still get a full pension if they chose to, that was an incentive to get them to take the cash lump sum to leave the company. Not the same thing as those today with traditional pensions being offered a lump sum instead of taking payments for the rest of their lives. Those at 52 15 years ago got a lump sum to leave, based on years of service, but they weren't getting their pensions until at least 55 if they chose to take them early.