Warning! SPOILERS for Severance.

It is not easy to label Severance's Lumon Industries as one specific type of business, but there are several similarities between the mysterious company and real-world tech giants. In Severance, those who work for Lumon Industries are viewed with both prestige and suspicion by society at large due to the company's controversial severance process. Among Lumon's employees is Mark Scout, the main character of Severance, who works in the almost secret department for severed workers.

While much has yet to be revealed about what or who is behind Lumon Industries, a few clues here and there help to better understand what's happening in Severance. The memory switch process most likely has a better motive than just increasing productivity, and it may be hiding a terrifying truth about Severance. In addition to all the show's mystery, what has already been seen about Lumon makes it possible to draw a series of parallels between the series and famous real-life work environments.

Related: Loki & Severance Both Nail Gen Z's Worst Nightmare

The similarities between Lumon and real-world tech companies range from architecture to daily work practices. Lumon Industries' hyperbolically wide, multi-level building resembles the landscraper that Google has in London, even though the main events of the show actually take place on a much more reserved basement floor. The department in which Mark and his colleagues work is extremely flat, almost claustrophobic, with no source of natural light, creating an interesting duality. Lumon has an entire complex available, and yet the most important projects in the company might be taking place in a much simpler and more secretive environment.

severance show

Another interesting point of comparison is that there seems to be no definition of what Lumon Industries actually produces. Much like Amazon, Lumon is said to work in cosmetics, drugs, and technology, and no one can really categorize the company into one specific business model. The vastness of products and services that the same giant company can be involved with, and how dangerous that can be, is one of the parallels Severance draws with the real world. Another parallel that does not go unnoticed is the idea of citizens protesting against a particular practice of a large company. In Severance, it's due to the memory switch process. In the real world, the reasons are unfortunately uncountable - and, thus, unaccountable.

The possibility of drawing parallels between fiction and the real world is one of the reasons why the sci-fi genre has always worked so well, and Severance proves it by taking inspiration from real-life tech companies to create its world. Lumon Industries' questionable decisions represent to the world of Severance and its characters what giants like Amazon and Facebook do to the real world, and that allows for interesting discussions to be made. Like every great sci-fi story, Severance's main themes may not be its futuristic premise but instead something deeper and more relevant to contemporary culture.

Next: Severance: How The Employees' Memories Are Split (& When It Happens)

Severance releases new episodes every Friday on Apple TV+.