Please stop buying plaques as gifts for retirees/farewells

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody knows what to do anymore.

People miss significant gifts like watches.

Most retirement presents aren't useful - except for gift cards.

My team did give an Apple Watch to a guy that was retiring after 35-40 years. They had collected a lot of cash.

Sometimes the party is the best present. A lot of people get no recognition.

I just retire from the govt. and got a plaque. I appreciate the sentiment but what the heck? Am I supposed to hang it in my home? Nope. It is hiding in my
Closet along with the other plaques I received. Just give me a card with some thoughtful notes and a nice coffee gathering in the morning.

That's the thing, there is no thought/ sentiment behind it because everyone receives a plaque. At this point, it screams box checking.

So, as somebody who has had to organize dozens of farewell parties/gifts for employees over the years - sorry, but the exercise is not for you, it's for the office. People want to "do something" and feel that something will be done for them when they leave. That's why you get a plaque.

I realize you'd probably like a gift card, but your colleagues and my boss think that's too impersonal (too easy) so we don't do that.

You're not getting a thoughtful personal gift even if we have a lot of money collected because (a) I am organizing this on top of my real job and I'm busy, and (b) I have to think about the expectations being set / already set in past years, in the sense that one employee can't be seen to get a significantly nicer or more thoughtful gift than another employee. If we collect more than the plaque costs, you get nicer food at the party. If we collect less, I make up the difference out of my own pocket.

You and your boss suck. You think you are fooling anyone with this attitude? I’m too busy to spend five minutes to think about a more meaningful gift than a plaque that goes straight into a dumpster after I worked for your company for decades? Also pretty weird that you make up the difference out of your pocket. Your boss told you to do that?

I'm government, and I assume OP is too since they mentioned challenge coins. All gifts are out of pocket since no government funds may be spent on stuff like that. We pass the hat for voluntary donations and supervisors usually give a little more to make up for people who didn't give.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, colleagues usually sign a giant version of the agency's seal, which is then framed.

What is odd is that we haven't celebrated anyone who retired since DRP. So senior people are just disappearing. Some do invite us to a last-minute after-work happy hour.

I was a fairly senior person who took the first DRP (I was planning to retire this year anyway.) On my last day in the office I ordered up a massive trash can and basically dumped my office. This included numerous awards/plaques/citations etc. As I was doing this, my director (who was a big reason why I was planning to retire) stopped by and asked if I wanted a party "so I could get my retirement plaque". It took all I had not to laugh out loud and told him no thanks I'm good.

I went to lunch with a couple of my favorite coworkers and called it a career. I don't didn't want or need any more stuff at this point in my life.

What did you do with the trash can?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody knows what to do anymore.

People miss significant gifts like watches.

Most retirement presents aren't useful - except for gift cards.

My team did give an Apple Watch to a guy that was retiring after 35-40 years. They had collected a lot of cash.

Sometimes the party is the best present. A lot of people get no recognition.

I just retire from the govt. and got a plaque. I appreciate the sentiment but what the heck? Am I supposed to hang it in my home? Nope. It is hiding in my
Closet along with the other plaques I received. Just give me a card with some thoughtful notes and a nice coffee gathering in the morning.

That's the thing, there is no thought/ sentiment behind it because everyone receives a plaque. At this point, it screams box checking.

So, as somebody who has had to organize dozens of farewell parties/gifts for employees over the years - sorry, but the exercise is not for you, it's for the office. People want to "do something" and feel that something will be done for them when they leave. That's why you get a plaque.

I realize you'd probably like a gift card, but your colleagues and my boss think that's too impersonal (too easy) so we don't do that.

You're not getting a thoughtful personal gift even if we have a lot of money collected because (a) I am organizing this on top of my real job and I'm busy, and (b) I have to think about the expectations being set / already set in past years, in the sense that one employee can't be seen to get a significantly nicer or more thoughtful gift than another employee. If we collect more than the plaque costs, you get nicer food at the party. If we collect less, I make up the difference out of my own pocket.

So stop organizing if you can’t be bothered to buy people anything other than a hunk of crap. Better to give nothing.

Agree. And stop acting like a martyr.

[Anonymous]

My dad was retired military. He had a large office full of plaques and certificates on the wall (over 30 of them) from his years in the navy and government contracting. We “donated” all of them through an estate company. No one wanted them even the one from his retirement ceremony. I have no idea what relatives are supposed to do with these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've found that people are really resistant to forgoing a gift altogether, for example to have a nice party instead.
I agree that nobody knows what to do with plaques, but better gifts are significantly more expensive - e.g., a nice little clock is $200 while the plaque was $65 and since we are paying for it out of pocket ...

Just donate a bit more and get a gift card for $100.at least. It's not worth spending $60 for a plaque.

Plaques are not $65. At least not the ones with wording. They run about $200 if they are custom made.

Well, then it's really not worth it. I'd much rather have a gift card.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, colleagues usually sign a giant version of the agency's seal, which is then framed.

What is odd is that we haven't celebrated anyone who retired since DRP. So senior people are just disappearing. Some do invite us to a last-minute after-work happy hour.

I was a fairly senior person who took the first DRP (I was planning to retire this year anyway.) On my last day in the office I ordered up a massive trash can and basically dumped my office. This included numerous awards/plaques/citations etc. As I was doing this, my director (who was a big reason why I was planning to retire) stopped by and asked if I wanted a party "so I could get my retirement plaque". It took all I had not to laugh out loud and told him no thanks I'm good.

I went to lunch with a couple of my favorite coworkers and called it a career. I don't didn't want or need any more stuff at this point in my life.

What did you do with the trash can?

He was going to create a party on the day of?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad was retired military. He had a large office full of plaques and certificates on the wall (over 30 of them) from his years in the navy and government contracting. We “donated” all of them through an estate company. No one wanted them even the one from his retirement ceremony. I have no idea what relatives are supposed to do with these things.

Respectfully, why would anyone else want plaques that belonged to a stranger?

[Anonymous]

It’s more about the gesture. You yourself do not have a good alternative

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody knows what to do anymore.

People miss significant gifts like watches.

Most retirement presents aren't useful - except for gift cards.

My team did give an Apple Watch to a guy that was retiring after 35-40 years. They had collected a lot of cash.

Sometimes the party is the best present. A lot of people get no recognition.

I just retire from the govt. and got a plaque. I appreciate the sentiment but what the heck? Am I supposed to hang it in my home? Nope. It is hiding in my
Closet along with the other plaques I received. Just give me a card with some thoughtful notes and a nice coffee gathering in the morning.

That's the thing, there is no thought/ sentiment behind it because everyone receives a plaque. At this point, it screams box checking.

So, as somebody who has had to organize dozens of farewell parties/gifts for employees over the years - sorry, but the exercise is not for you, it's for the office. People want to "do something" and feel that something will be done for them when they leave. That's why you get a plaque.

I realize you'd probably like a gift card, but your colleagues and my boss think that's too impersonal (too easy) so we don't do that.

You're not getting a thoughtful personal gift even if we have a lot of money collected because (a) I am organizing this on top of my real job and I'm busy, and (b) I have to think about the expectations being set / already set in past years, in the sense that one employee can't be seen to get a significantly nicer or more thoughtful gift than another employee. If we collect more than the plaque costs, you get nicer food at the party. If we collect less, I make up the difference out of my own pocket.

You and your boss suck. You think you are fooling anyone with this attitude? I’m too busy to spend five minutes to think about a more meaningful gift than a plaque that goes straight into a dumpster after I worked for your company for decades? Also pretty weird that you make up the difference out of your pocket. Your boss told you to do that?

I'm government, and I assume OP is too since they mentioned challenge coins. All gifts are out of pocket since no government funds may be spent on stuff like that. We pass the hat for voluntary donations and supervisors usually give a little more to make up for people who didn't give.

At my agency so many people are retiring right now we don't even ask for voluntary donations or have a small party anymore.

Just an announcement and a conference room drop in visit to say goodbye with no gifts and no food. Sounds like OP would love it.

Another idea: when I worked for state government we would collect donations for a retirement gift, and give a small gift stuffed with the rest of the cash. Retirees needed the money, so it was appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Silver/gold coin or bar.

[Anonymous]

Before trashing the plaques, see if a trophy company will take and recycle. I believe Cassell’s in northern VA May still recycle.

[Anonymous]

I wish gift cards would become the norm. I’d much rather get $ toward a nice dinner vs. some plaque that will end up in a dumpster in the not too far future.

I feel the same way about kids’ participation trophies. I could understand it more if they were only given out to the winners at a high level of competition. But it seems like my kids are constantly racking up end of season medals and trophies for every rec sport they do. I just don’t even know what to do with these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nobody knows what to do anymore.

People miss significant gifts like watches.

Most retirement presents aren't useful - except for gift cards.

My team did give an Apple Watch to a guy that was retiring after 35-40 years. They had collected a lot of cash.

Sometimes the party is the best present. A lot of people get no recognition.

I just retire from the govt. and got a plaque. I appreciate the sentiment but what the heck? Am I supposed to hang it in my home? Nope. It is hiding in my
Closet along with the other plaques I received. Just give me a card with some thoughtful notes and a nice coffee gathering in the morning.

That's the thing, there is no thought/ sentiment behind it because everyone receives a plaque. At this point, it screams box checking.

So, as somebody who has had to organize dozens of farewell parties/gifts for employees over the years - sorry, but the exercise is not for you, it's for the office. People want to "do something" and feel that something will be done for them when they leave. That's why you get a plaque.

I realize you'd probably like a gift card, but your colleagues and my boss think that's too impersonal (too easy) so we don't do that.

You're not getting a thoughtful personal gift even if we have a lot of money collected because (a) I am organizing this on top of my real job and I'm busy, and (b) I have to think about the expectations being set / already set in past years, in the sense that one employee can't be seen to get a significantly nicer or more thoughtful gift than another employee. If we collect more than the plaque costs, you get nicer food at the party. If we collect less, I make up the difference out of my own pocket.

So stop organizing if you can’t be bothered to buy people anything other than a hunk of crap. Better to give nothing.

The goal is not to give the person a gift. The point is the demonstration for other people that milestones are recognized. Bluntly, the preferences of the person leaving are not as important as those of the people staying.

Boss organizes and subsidizes it because it looks like low morale if the office does nothing, and because one of the supervisor performance categories is recognizing and rewarding people. If they thought they could get away with a gift card, they would.

That doesn't mean we didn't like you! We probably did. But you would get the plaque and party whether we did or not.

I can assure you my morale is not the least bit elevated by the prospect of getting a plaque at some future date. If anything, it lowers it ("If I dedicate 20 years of my life to this, I'm going to get a plaque?" Not inspiring.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, colleagues usually sign a giant version of the agency's seal, which is then framed.

What is odd is that we haven't celebrated anyone who retired since DRP. So senior people are just disappearing. Some do invite us to a last-minute after-work happy hour.

I was a fairly senior person who took the first DRP (I was planning to retire this year anyway.) On my last day in the office I ordered up a massive trash can and basically dumped my office. This included numerous awards/plaques/citations etc. As I was doing this, my director (who was a big reason why I was planning to retire) stopped by and asked if I wanted a party "so I could get my retirement plaque". It took all I had not to laugh out loud and told him no thanks I'm good.

I went to lunch with a couple of my favorite coworkers and called it a career. I don't didn't want or need any more stuff at this point in my life.

What did you do with the trash can?

Rolled it were the maintenance folks who brought it up told me to. I assume they took it down to the dumpsters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dad was retired military. He had a large office full of plaques and certificates on the wall (over 30 of them) from his years in the navy and government contracting. We “donated” all of them through an estate company. No one wanted them even the one from his retirement ceremony. I have no idea what relatives are supposed to do with these things.

Same. My dad was a 42 year lifer at the the same agency and highly respective. So so so many awards/plaques when he retired. He (actually my mom) displayed them in the house. FF to them both dying and me having to clean out the house. I had so much crap (and they weren't hoarders, actually the opposite - but 30+ years in a SFH there was stuff.) My brothers took a couple, I took one that had some meaning and then I threw the most "impressive" ones in a box and brought it to the agency when they celebrated him with a Hall of Fame and naming a library after him. About a year later I got a call that they had cleaned out a closet and found a box of my dads. Yep, the box I gave them. I picked it up and tossed it in the trash. If you want it, do your kids a favor and tell them it's ok to trash them after you go!