I work in a pretty professional environment and my department has a tradition that I find somewhat odd. When an employee resigns from his job for greener pastures, the entire department has a farewell get-together to celebrate and thank that person for his services at the company. I could understand this practice if the employee was moving to another department within the company or even celebrating a monumental anniversary at the company (e.g. 5, 10, 15 years), but celebrating the departure of an employee doesn’t seem to instill much sense of loyalty to those of us who remain. It’s especially odd to me because, although it’s a little better now, the company used to be a revolving door for entry level employees. I think majority of our employees have a pretty positive attitude at work, but some of the departing people are actually like, “yay, I’m outta here!” And then we celebrate. That just doesn’t seem like the kind of culture we would want to cultivate at work.
So, does your company have any kind of celebration or other acknowledgement when someone quits? Is this normal? Do you think this is a bad practice? Or, am I way off here?
It’s kind of a ‘depends why’ thing here. We had a marketing admin who went off and got her mba and then found a job more fitting to her new skills. We all celebrated that.
We had a guy who started his own company in an attempt to poach our existing customers. Him not so much.
We’ll get together and eat cake on the slightest provocation.
There was one recently where a lady gave her notice in tears about two minutes before my husband would have fired her. My husband and I both took a day off on the day of her farewell party (not for that reason, but I’m glad we did because it would have been awkward as all hell).
Another ‘it depends.’ It depends on how well we like them and how long they’ve been with the company. Someone who’s been here 18 months? probably not. Eight years? Quite possibly, if they’re leaving on good terms and not going to a competitor.
There is usually a tea and cake farewell when a long-time office staffer leaves for whatever reason. When professors leave, nothing. When they retire, there is usually a retirement dinner. I retired at the same time as two others and a few months later there was a retirement dinner for the three of us. In addition, they usually collect for a going away gift. I remember one guy got some luggage (that was the last we saw of him). They asked me what I would like and I got gift certificate for $250 at a record store. The money is collected from my colleagues.
I would agree that in certain circumstances a farewell/thanks celebration would be appropriate.
But in the most recent incident I’m thinking of the person quit just two weeks aftere he finished a training course to obtain special certification that cost the company $12k. For that one person. And then he up and quit. I don’t know if that training will apply to his new job or not, but I feel like he probably should have at least been up front before wasting our company’s time and money. I assume upper management felt the same. But hey, we had our traditional celebration regardless. Doesn’t that seem just a bit off?
We do these often, but it’s usually not a company thing, it’s organized by the other people that we work with because we liked working with them and are sad to see them go but wish them well. Of course, if someone is leaving on bad terms or hasn’t been around long, we won’t really bother, but we’ll usually at least do an extended lunch or something for someone that’s been around for at least a couple of years.
Last year we had a new employee start in around June. In October she had to quit because her husband was moving back to the west coast. She got a party, complete with a cake that said “Farewell Dhara!”
I guess someone pointed out that I, someone who had been in that department for 8 years, was moving out to another department. In true Gilligan’s Island style, “and the rest” was hastily added to the bottom of the cake.
We generally have going away parties for people at all the companies I’ve worked for because these are relationships with people, not team building for the company. I’ve worked with some people in several different companies; leaving a job isn’t cutting off the relationship. Leaving a job isn’t an act of disloyalty; it’s a natural progression and shouldn’t be though of poorly. In most cases.
Humm - every time I’ve left a place they’ve had a going away function with a leaving present that everyone chips in on - I’m not sure that it’s a celebration that I’m leaving (well, I’m a bit of a hag, but I think most of my coworkers like me OK) so much as a going away function.
Actually celebrating that someone is leaving seems sort of odd.
At one company I worked for we did this, not as a company policy, but the person’s friends would take him/her out for lunch to wish them well. Actually, there was a time when things were not going well at the company, management was being particularly dense. Another much larger company opened up an office within walking distance, and was offering substantially higher salaries. As soon as one person got in, he started recommending former co-workers. For a while the going-away lunches were at least one a week, sometimes more. The departing worker sometimes put an in-box on the table for folks to drop resumes in. This started as a joke.
Protocal at law firms for leaving attorneys is generally (I) if they go to another law firm, the firm does nothing and friends organize drinks (and sometimes dinner) and (ii) if they go to a client or potential client, the firm or at least certain partners spring for dinner and drinks.
Yes. I work with rational people. We assume people are moving on voluntarily to something they consider better for themselves. It’s not necessarily a big organized event. But we are proud of people who move on to something bigger, or better, or more personally satisfying.
When the law firm I’m at was small, the people who were leaving were generally attorneys moving on to work for the government or law clerks going on to the next stage of their careers. There were definitely office-stopping gatherings with cake and presents and lots of speeches from the partners that wished the person well. It wasn’t about being happy that the person was leaving, but celebrating that the person was going on to do something even more positive for himself or herself.
Now that we’re part of a large, multi-office firm, there aren’t any official gatherings. Just down to the bar for drinks with the people who liked the departing person most.
I’m on board with the “it depends” method of celebrating a departure with friends or close associates of the employee. But that’s not how it is at my company. The entire department is expected to join a dinner and drinks celebration, whether we worked with the person or not and whether they’re necessarily leaving on good terms or not.
I mean, sometimes I think the departing employee deserves the recognition, but other times I wonder.
I work in higher education, and it’s standard here. You’re supposed to be gaining skills to take on new positions, either here or at other institutions. There’s also a bit of a networking thing going on, if people move on (and hopefully up) to other colleges, it’s a way of making institutional relationships. I have a bunch of collaborative projects that involve people who used to work here, but now work at other universities. Likewise we wish people well if they have a career change, or a geographical move, or some other life change that means they won’t be working here.
It does not happen for the other kind of quitting, like if someone up and quits in a snit about something.
