When did the practice of sending an email to the coworkers you liked when you leave a company start? Can I please go on record as hating it with a passion? I guess it's acceptable if you send one to your closest coworkers who you might not see for a while, but for the love of God, these people who you barely talked to in the first place who send out a 9 paragraph goodbye need to stop.
I first recall this happening at the end of my longest run with a company (13 years) circa 2003. A lot of people were leaving around that time and a lot of us had been with that company a long time. It's almost understandable when the same core group of 25 people are together 13 years in a company that only made it to 50 employees. What I'm noticing now though is a joke.
Someone who started 17 months ago at my newest place of destruction just left on Friday and sent out an email that was just plain bizarre. They all sound the same...I just want to say a heartfelt thank you to the people who actually tried to get to know me....puke, gag, hack. What's worse is then it becomes like high school. In a water cooler moment Jane Doe just has to say "did you get so and so's goodbye email?" when she knows who was on the list and who wasn't. Like Sally is going to give a flute that Mary didn't recognize her as someone who tried to get to know her. You know what, Mary? I don't get up at 5:30 every frikkin day to make new friends. I don't really want to get to know you. I'll be more than friendly to you and will never purposefully try to do you wrong, but let's end it there.
We had a consultant who was on for 3 months. 90 days came and went and we went to a monthly agreement with their rep. After about 6 months the work dried up and they were told we wouldn't be retaining their services. Of course, an email had to come out saying goodbye and thanking us for helping them LEARN more about yadda yadda yadda and they didnt know WHAT they did to not be retained....yadda yadda yadda....
Guess what? Nothing. You were fine. We ran out of work you could do. If a 1 means I hated you and a 10 means I love you and I must find a way to hire you, you were a good solid 5. I think at minimum you should have to work somewhere at least 5 years before you can send one of these emails when you leave. They are boring. They are awkward. If you were there 5 years and there are people you consider friends, you don't have to say goodbye because they will be emailing you or having you over for a cookout. Don't you only have to say goodbye if you don't plan on keeping in touch? That's what confusing to me about these things. They read like the person is moving to the other side of the world and there is no chance you will ever interact with them again.
I've been in the rat race since 1991 and you get over people leaving. I've made some long term friends out of former coworkers....a few who are reading this right now. If you've never been to my house, I've never been to yours, we've never once went out to eat lunch together or got it on in the empty room in the basement - please don't feel compelled to include me on your farewell speech. I don't care that your creativity is being held down by the man or that you can no longer continue to grow in this environment. My paycheck still clears from here and I really don't give a shit. Hrumph!
3 comments:
I've been in the rat race since 1973 and I've made some good friends at every single job I've ever had.
I agree with you about the farewell email in part because for over half of those jobs such a thing as email didn't even exist so it couldn't be used. And for the other half, my friends and I feel compelled to stay in touch because we genuinely like each other not because of more political bullshit spewing out of an email.
The downsizing movement is part to blame too. Once you get downsized out of a job you are trained to keep a wide network of former co-workers open. Because as you age, you get the jobs you want mostly because someone you used to work with knows you can bring value to their organization. It's not because you had a 3.9 GPA at college 20 years ago.
So folks are just trying to keep the bridges open instead of burning them. By the same token, if you piss somebody like Fan off by sending the politically correct good-bye email, it just negates the original purpose.
Here's what to do: Make friends with as many of your co-workers as you can. It's easier to work with your friends than your enemies anyway. If when you leave they have good memories about working with you, they'll help you find a new job if they can. Say goodbye face to face and leave the emailing to the people who still work there.
Amen! I received one a year or so ago that read "Thanks for the memories, I'm on LinkedIn." That was about the best one I've seen.
......when you retire, it doesn't matter how you say goodbye. Goodbye tension, hello pension!
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