Is it a healthy practice to allow your team to celebrate the depart of one of your team members?

Is it a healthy practice to allow your team to celebrate the departure of one of your team members? I am referring to a situation of attrition wherein the resource had to quit the organization for personal or career advancement reasons. I feel that as a people manager, we will be setting a wrong expectation by celebrating with activities such as cutting a cake or hosting a party in the office premises while the rest of the team is at work. However, they can definitely engage in such activities in their personal time outside the office premises. I am genuinely happy for the departing team member as a fellow human being. However, from a management standpoint, it still signifies attrition for me, and I am concerned about fostering an environment that encourages such practices. Please share your thoughts on this matter.

It may be attrition for the company, but the opening of an opportunity for the exiting employee. Exit of an employee can cut both ways - delay some work which was being handled by the employee and bring in new blood. A well-run company always keeps in mind stand by for key employees.

Spending ten to fifteen minutes to organize a small tea party is not going to affect the company output in any way; rather, it will give a good feeling to all that the exit is being dealt with in a positive way. At any rate, if the company has attrition rates, reasons need to be examined holistically and not by avoiding the gesture of a tea party/cake cutting, etc.

Few reasons for leaving the company include better opportunities, higher studies, and relocation. Only the department members or team members will show interest in giving the farewell, and the management approves it. Top management involvement is minimal.

Giving a farewell is necessary since the employee has been with the company and has served the required period. The farewell should be arranged during break times or lunch hours to avoid disrupting the working environment.

This creates a positive impression in the mind of the departing employee, increasing the likelihood of them showing interest in returning in the future if proper exit formalities are followed and the employee is treated well during their departure.

A farewell party is a gesture by the company whereby the company shows that they are happy for his growth and they wish him all the best for his future growth. A 10-15 minute party will surely not hamper any workings. It's a department function.

Also, if we celebrate birthdays for the employee at work, then why can't we celebrate the exit? Why treat him as an outsider on his last day and close the doors for re-entry? By discouraging just policies, we are creating an atmosphere where the employees, after putting in their resignation, will feel like getting away from the organization as soon as possible as the organization starts treating them differently.

Also, normally these farewell parties are either just before departure or during lunch or tea time, so not much of the working time is wasted.

Kindly do not curb such good gestures and good HR feelings.

We understand that HR work is going to look for his replacement, but then what are we expecting, an employee never leaving the organization and no new blood joining the team?

Regards,

Ashutosh Thakre

HR management should always encourage good things for the employees and create a positive environment for the company. Giving a farewell to an employee and wishing them all the success on their corporate journey and growth is something that enhances the happy environment of the company. All that is done for good reasons will result in good things in life.

A proactive HR culture is defined not by how you welcome a person into the organization, but by how you bid farewell to a person. Remember, the best ambassadors of any organization are its past employees. Make their exit memorable. The intangibles you gain are phenomenal.

Hello,

Not sure why you raised this topic—is it to do with any specific situation you faced or are facing, or just like that?

As a member mentioned, "the best ambassadors of any organization are its past employees. Make their exit memorable"—unless, of course, it's a case of termination, for whatever reason(s).

Also, there's one small but crucial point that you seem to miss out. The to-be-ex-employee joined the company and not any team within the company. He/she became a part of the team only after joining. And for all one knows, he/she may have worked in multiple teams during his/her tenure.

So whose concern, if at all, is it to give a farewell party to him/her?

Furthermore, did he/she work for any team lead or manager or anyone else or for the company all through?

That's the logic from a purely human relations angle.

From another angle—whatever his/her productivity was during his/her tenure was a contribution to the company and not to either the team or any individual. So whose concern, if at all, needs it to be to give a farewell party to him/her? That his/her team is involved in arranging the farewell party is only a projection of the intent of the company.

From another angle, what's the message the company is trying to send to the to-be-ex-employee when the company doesn't partake in any farewell party? To put it bluntly and directly: our "use for you" is now over and finished, and you can go your way now. At the most, a totally impersonal and mechanical "Thank you."

Does that feel like the way any HR person ought to suggest, project, or practice?

It's up to you to figure out, I guess.

Regards,

TS

I think it is a healthy practice to have some sort of farewell function. The outgoing employee is appreciated by his/her colleagues for the support and positive actions while in the organization. Moreover, the personal relationships do not cease even if that employee exits. The get-together can happen during lunch breaks, etc., with the least loss of productive time. A tea break could also be organized.

On the contrary, not having such a function indicates that the organization does not have a conducive atmosphere for interpersonal relationships. Such entities do not grow well as the right environmental culture is not fostered.

Interesting discussion on whether there should be a farewell for the send-off parties. The views expressed by the members are worth considering. There is another reason for the send-off party. The daunting competitions for market share, the demanding 24 x 7 customer service, and the technology-driven processes drive the employees at modern workplaces into a flurry of activity from the moment they pick up their pen or 'mouse', leaving no space nor time for occasional social indulgence, which is so essential for anyone who wants their workplace to be more socially dynamic than being a sweatshop. Therefore, there is a need for a social lubricant to lubricate jammed channels of social communication among employees by opening up to one another. The send-off parties are one such social lubricant. The feeling of being together on occasions when one of their colleagues leaves instills a sense of belonging and caring for one another, apart from refraining from burning bridges with him and keeping the doors of rehiring open to him if he wishes to come back.

However, where the rate of attrition is high and an employee leaves every other day, holding send-off parties during office hours so frequently may be disruptive. Therefore, in my view, whether a send-off party shall be held during office hours, or during lunch or tea time, or after hours, or whether it can be avoided, depends on various factors like the frequency of exits, the long or short tenure of employees, or the reputation of employees. No matter how bad a person is, it is worth celebrating their exit as some people make others happy when they leave.

B. Saikumar

HR & Labour Law Consultant

Employees will come and go. People work for earning and betterment in life. Relationships are social bondings that remain. Networks help businesses grow. Human resource managers can thus contribute to maintaining relationships and building strong networks through small but memorable moments like farewells, irrespective of reasons for attrition, etc.

Hi,

It is not a healthy practice or policy to have frequent farewell parties. However, if the team wishes to bid a proper goodbye at their own expense (snacks, mementos, etc.), then the 10-15 minutes of company time spent on this should be overlooked by HR, as long as it does not disrupt other employees and cleanliness is maintained. Such events can be held in meeting rooms, pantries, or other areas where disturbance is tolerable.

The company is where we spend most of our waking hours. It is natural for us to form friendships and attachments here. Imposing strict rules regarding company time may not be perceived as a positive gesture.

Best Regards,
Amod Bobade.

A formal farewell ceremony with no sort of partying can be entertained and can be made a practice in organizations. This will, of course, set an example of unity in the team.

Somewhere I read years ago - "To meet, to eat, to chat, and to depart - that is the saddest tale of mankind!". Bidding farewell by the employees to a colleague on his voluntary exit from the organization is a mark of respect and remembrance of their long-time association. Managers have just to take it in a lighter vein instead of with a parochial outlook.

In my company, we do not celebrate farewells because when an employee leaves the organization. However, our employees give a personal farewell to the departing person and send an email to everyone. They do not inform the senior management. Kindly suggest whether we should instruct them to stop sending internal emails to everyone or if they send an email, they should also keep the management in the loop.

Kindly suggest what I should email to them so that the environment remains cool, healthy, and intimate.

Regards,
Aagam

It is quite natural that it would also swing everyone's mood. It would be better if we avoid such circumstances inside the premises.

Holding a small farewell party during tea break involving HOD and members of the team/department for the farewell party of an employee who is leaving is a good idea. (Of course, the exiting employee should not have been terminated or dismissed, etc.) This will foster good relationships among employees.

I really do not find any negative implications in this short but sweet gesture. For years, I have been doing this for exiting employees wherever I have worked without any problem or hindrance to official work.

If we all take exits as negatives and handle the farewell gestures as a waste of time, then I really wonder if the employees would stick around for the notice period and transfer the knowledge. As soon as a person puts in their resignation, people will start to distance themselves from them, treating them as an alien in the group. This is a very harmful trend.

A request to all my HR members: we need to strengthen the company culture through people management and not by looking down on things in a different way.

Regards,
Ashutosh Thakre

In my viewpoint, the procedure of giving farewell is a good idea as the person is going for better opportunities without harming the organization.

We'd say, don't make it big - but encourage the employee who's given the best and highlight his positives to the rest of the members. Let the person who's taken the big decision to move on feel good about working for his current organization and let him contemplate on what he's going to carry forward on his next leap.

Kindly suggest, do you have any idea for a paternal leave policy? How many days are applicable if the employee strength is 50 in the size of the company?

Kindly reply.