I’ve seen it multiple times, though I’ve never been involved in any way.
Some were just to embarrass the employee in a petty show of power, others were to legitimately get rid of someone who could later see legal action (different companies in both instances).
I’ve seen it happen. I’d kind of like it to happen to me some day. As they escort me out I’ll just smile and say “Too late”.
I like this idea! 
I’ve never seen it happen, but one day I was purging some old files and accidentally dropped my keys in the locked shred bin. I had to meet the security guy at the door to show him which one it was, and we got some LOOKS since he appeared to be marching me down the hall to the back exit!
I have seen it a few times in my career. In fact, when I worked in banking I more than once saw someone being escorted out in handcuffs. Remember kids, embezzlement is not a good idea!
I once worked in the kind of place where they did often walk people to the door. They caught a guy in our department (IT) selling surplus computer equipment on eBay (early days of eBay, but how stupid??) and it was forceful and abrupt, I don’t think his feet touched the floor very often. Others had to clean out their desk while someone stood there and then escorted them out.
I managed to find another position and gave notice, having seen the proverbial handwriting on the wall, getting out before they looked around and decided they didn’t need me around any more. Because it was my idea, I think, the parting was more civilized; they weren’t worried that I wanted revenge and were happy to have me tie up loose ends before I left; they had me continue to come in for my two weeks’ worth of notice.
A while ago I worked for a tech company that got bought by Computer Associates. CA has a reputation for buying companies and gutting the work force so I had another job lined up and was waiting for the axe. (Say what you want about CA but they give a great severance package.) The day came, I was called in to an office and handed a check, then security guys walked me back to my desk to watch me pack up and (presumably) walk me to the door. I was so obviously happy to be leaving that they gave up minutes later and went back to hover over someone else.
I got laid off last year, and was escorted to the door by a HR guy (the biggest guy, an amateur MMA fighter- I was vaguely flattered). They wanted to watch me clear out my email info from my phone, and I was able to pick up my stuff a few days later.
It’s the new normal.
Yup, but they were too slow about summoning security. They let me go back to my desk by myself and I may or may not have taken the necessary docs to substantiate a wrongful termination suit. I let it slip to one of the gossips that I’d be perfectly happy to let it go providing I got unemployment.
Not by security, but by my boss.
At one company I worked at, an HR guy was escorting a laid-off guy to his office to pack up his desk, and the guy slammed the door in the HR guy’s face, locked the door, and shot himself.
When one of my old co-workers left the job, I went to a thrift shop and bought a used Security shirt. I wore it and a tie and cap, and “escorted” him out of the building, purely as a joke.
He got the last laugh, having left a bunch of “easter eggs” in the office for me to discover over the next few years!
I’m reminded of this story Sysadmin's £100,000 revenge after sudden sacking • The Register
"“To connect the sites, the ERP system needed a link between the sites,” James recalls. But the company’s preferred telco was a few weeks away from launching its broadband product. The European office couldn’t wait, however, so James “used an aggregated on-demand international ISDN connection so the databases could sync as required.”
“This was massively expensive, but was only needed for two weeks before we could place the order for broadband. The system worked fine unattended, and everyone was happy as the ERP system worked flawlessly.”
Despite the outbreak of happiness, “a week later the IT Manager called me into a meeting with HR to inform me I had been made redundant, effectively immediately.”
James was escorted from the premises by security and prevented from speaking to his colleagues.
Before he placed an order for broadband."
My wife was “downsized” a couple years ago after the hospital where she worked was bought by another company. She was escorted out of the building and told to call and make an appointment to go in and clean out her desk.
It has never happened to me but I have seen it happen to other people. At the supermarket headquarters I worked at in the late 90’s we didn’t even have security normally. I walked in one Thursday and they had a security desk set up in the lobby. That’s weird I thought. About 2 hours later, the layoffs started rapid-fire. I wasn’t worried because I had a very hard to replace position that only I knew but a lot of long-timers were let go and it wasn’t pleasant. The managers that had to deliver the news were upset about it as much as the people that were laid off. They were forced to do it by the invisible Middle Eastern investment group that owned the majority stake in the company.
I have been laid off three times and I have never been escorted out or refused entry back in the building even well after it happened. In one case, our whole department got laid off . They told us in the morning but said that we were free to stick around all day if we wanted to pack up our stuff and exchange contact information with our (former) coworkers. Layoffs suck but I will have to say that was a nice touch.
I work on a yearly contract basis now so there generally isn’t such a thing as a layoff. You can get fired for cause but what usually happens is that they just don’t renew your contract for whatever reason, you know it months in advance and you can use the time to look for another contract or job within the current company or anywhere else. You are still expected to work normally until the end but there is no surprise.
I spent 44 years with a major aerospace company and the only times I’ve seen folks escorted out by security was either for theft from the company or if they were IT workers being laid off. Security would be there when they were told of layoff and they would watch while they packed their personal belongings. Then out the door. Non IT folks were notified and we’re still around for their 60 day period.
Ouch! That’s painful. Funny, but painful!
(After I left my job, I still got phone calls, sometimes in the middle of the night. “The database is down! We’re stuck! Please fix it!” I could almost have cried. I wanted to help them – these are guys I’d worked with for years. But I didn’t work there any more. It wasn’t my problem. I did offer to come back and help as an independent contractor, but I’d be charging $100 an hour. Fact is, they were losing more than that from production-line down time. Oh, well!)
Not by security, but I was handed a box and escorted out by an HR person (along with 10% of the entire staff.) Watching employees being called away one at a time, then returning with a box and packing up under the watchful eye of HR was pretty traumatizing to the survivors.
It never happened to me, too minion-y a job I guess. I am interested if anyone has heard of stories of revenge after being let go? Surely some newly-unemployed computer wizards were in a position to royally screw things up at their former companies. The very thought of it sounds delicious. Anyone?
I’ve been in mass IT lay-offs twice and there was never any immediate escorting out. In both cases I still had access to the office and systems and could come in to print stuff. The last job change was a sort of voluntary redundancy. I worked right up to the agreed termination date and just handed my badge to the receptionist on the way out. IT security didn’t even do a very good job as I could still log into a customer facing portal weeks later.
I saw a coworker get escorted out once. He had fraudulently logged several hundred hours of overtime.
Question for those who’ve seen this happen at their companies: did you think it was warranted? Was there a serious chance the employee would mess with something on the way out or if he was given ample notice (like 2 weeks termination notification)?