Comment by gaius
16 years ago
The only time an agreement like this is standard is when you know you're doing something you shouldn't be, and you know you're about to lose your legitimate influence over people who could out you, so you try to buy their silence because to you the cost is cheap.
What country are you in? In the UK this is pure boilerplate text.
I'm in the UK, and I have never had anything even close to this proposed to me, by any employer, of any size, regardless of how happily I left.
It's only boilerplate text if you're the kind of person who also accepted the "We own copyright to everything you ever do, at work or otherwise" clause in the employment contract.
I've been laid off twice, and both times the severance agreement included clauses that I basically agreed not to sue them for unfair dismissal. When I've quit, of course there was nothing like that.