Golden handcuffs are a system of financial incentives designed to keep an employee from leaving the company. These can include employee stock options that will not vest for several years but are more often contractual obligations to give back lucrative bonuses or other compensation if the employee leaves for another company.

Golden handcuffs are a response by the companies in industries where it is common for highly compensated employees to frequently move from one firm to another, often before the company feels that it has earned a return on the investment in the employee.

Some US courts have held such plans to violate the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) by failing to vest benefits.

In television, if a host has signed the 'golden handcuffs' deal with the network, it means they cannot appear on any other rival channel. An example of this would be British television hosts Ant & Dec.

More broadly, the term can also refer to any kind of situation in which a generous salary is used to keep an important employee from looking for a more desirable but less certain position.

Polly Courtney is an English author and media commentator. She is best known as the author of the novels Golden Handcuffs and Poles Apart.

In her early years, Courtney was a straight-A student who spent her free time playing a multitude of sports and playing violin with various orchestras and quartets.^{[citation needed]} She grew up in London. Courtney graduated from Trinity College,^[specify]University of Cambridge with a first-class degree in mechanical engineering, and worked in investment banking for two years before resigning to spend time writing her first novel based on her experiences in the City.

Courtney has written a number of novels. Her first novel, Golden Handcuffs, was self-published. She then moved to a three-book publishing deal with HarperCollins imprint, Avon. At the release of It's a Man's World in 2011, Courtney announced plans to return to self-publishing because she does not agree with the chick lit marketing approach used by HaperCollins.

Courtney has written opinion pieces on the City, women workers and general career advice in The Observer, The Guardian and many other publications.