How to organize the farewell gift
at work
(or "how to pass the hat around")
For those of you that have to organize farewell gifts for coworkers, it can be another chore on top of your workload.
But it doesn't have to be hard!
The following tips should help make group planning of going away gifts easier than thinking of going away gift ideas in the first place:
Organizing the goodbye gift should be voluntary, and if nobody wants to do it, it should be up to management.
If you find organizing farewell gifts fun, or in fact the only creative thing about your workplace, then the whole thing is a lot easier, but you may still need to get other people on board.
This can be harder when the workplace is particularly transient, with a high turn-over.
Follow the principles below to make it easier for people to put money in:
- Take charge.
Email and let people know that you will be organizing the going away gift, and suggest a price range that you think the workplace together should spend.
When people know that you are in charge, it makes things easier for them, and they are more likely to comply.
Solicit replies that include goodbye gift suggestions or opinions on the price range - this involvement will ensure more donation-compliance.
If you can find something online, such as the
farewell gift shop
, you can send the link around, further brainwashing work colleagues and gaining their tacit acceptance. People are more likely to donate if they know exactly what their money is buying.
- Tell them what and how much.
After a period of time (e.g. three days), decide on the present.
Then email people to tell them how much each they are required to donate.
This serves as a further reminder to donate.
- Keep a list, and purchase.
It is better to get the funds from people before buying the farewell present.
Keep a list of who has donated, and how much (if people have donated more that their 'share').
When you have the required amount, go ahead and purchase.
- Make things transparent.
Refund excess money if it is a significant amount, or buy a second item to spend the entire amount.
An excess of a couple dollars is not worth refunding considering you are going to the effort of organising the goodbye present.
If this is going to be an issue in the workplace, spend all the money on going away gifts.
Some more things to consider:
- People are happier to donate if they think the purchase is really good value (e.g. the item is free and people only need to pay for the engraving).
- Of course, it would be much easier if there was no donation required - if the workplace could provide something free, or the purchase can be refunded from petty cash or a miscellaneous budget - find out beforehand.
- You are more likely to get donations if the person leaving has been at the workplace for a certain amount of time (at least a year in some organisations, longer for others) and if most of the people in the workplace has worked with them during that time.
So a workplace with mostly new starters of 6 months, even if the person leaving was there for 5 years, is not going to have a high donation rate...
Start enquiring about the petty cash.
- All things should be voluntary, so if people don't want to contribute, don't force it.
Everyone has their own reasons, and you don't want to make workplace relations difficult.
- It can be very painful if you are buying a farewell gift, and getting out of pocket, that the whole workplace takes the credit for.
If you find yourself in this situation (for example, in the last 2 points above), just give the going away gift as a personal one from the contributors.
List contributors in the goodbye gift card.
Whether you want to present this farewell gift in 'public' is up to you, however if there is no other gift, then put your resentment aside and think of the person leaving and how much nicer their farewell will be for them if there was a gift presented.
- If the workplace is very transient, with a farewell every six months for people who don't stay long enough, think about whether it is worth going to the effort of the farewell gift. Maybe a card would suffice, if at all.
Those who stay longer are also not going to be happy to have to donate every six months for people constantly leaving.
A good idea is to say goodbye during the usual informal morning tea.
It won't cost anything, and would be more welcome if the person leaving had to bake a cake or some biscuits!
From organizing work donations to the goodbye gift menu page
From organising work donations to Fond Farewell home page
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