Retirement is a time of many feelings. It brings excitement for the possibilities, fear of boredom, worry about missing out on relationships built, and often a change of identity. Your retiree has dedicated hours, and often years, to your organization. Never let a retirement become a passing thought or a missed opportunity to celebrate and appreciate them!
Create a Bucket List
Sometimes retirees find themselves with too much time. About a month before your employee retires, involve the team in creating a bucket list for them. In the Thanks Platform, this can be done using Ideas.
Each team member, and the retiree, can post their ideas of things they want to do during retirement. Ask employees to contribute advice, interesting videos or articles, or links to entertainment.
You’ll see a wide variety of ideas and your retiree will have many new ideas they haven’t thought about. A shared bucket list also encourages the whole team to get excited with the upcoming retiree about their retirement. It can involve everyone and create a new shared experience.
You’ll find that the team comes up with suggestions to local attractions, new novels to read, goals, and hobbies to learn.
At the retirement party, present the bucket list to your employee. You may even share a few of the top suggestions with everyone. The retiree will have many ideas to choose from when time seems to be going too slowly.
Invite Family and Friends
Retirement impacts more than the retiree and those at work left behind. Make sure you invite the retiree’s family and friends to the party. A retirement party provides a good bridge between their previous career life and new retirement life.
Don’t forget to invite ex-coworkers, previous bosses, customers, and other important people in the retiree’s work life.
- Invite family and friends
- Former colleagues and managers
- Customers, partners, and vendors
Quiz About the Retiree
Have some fun in the time leading up to their retirement, or at the party by sharing quizzes about the retiree. You can do this virtually in Quizzes or by printing out questions and having party-goers answer questions at the party.
Check out these ideas to get you started:
- Has the retiree ever….(faked sick to skip work, lied about their age, hid in the bathroom to kill time at work, ate a coworker’s lunch, thought a customer was cute, quit a job because of an awful boss,
- What would the retiree choose: coffee or tea, TV or newspaper, SciFi or bibliography, hiking or biking, road trip or cruise, cook or takeout, cabin or beach, vacation or staycation, tattoos or piercings, cherished or respected, speeding ticket or parking ticket, etc)
- Who knows the Retiree Best: What’s their full name, If they cold vacation anywhere- where would it be, What food do they hate, Biggest fear, Favorite TV series, Favorite Sport, Biggest Hobby, Do they speak more than one language, Whats the retirees biggest pet peeve at work, What city were they born, How many states have they lived in, How many jobs have they had, etc
- Advice for the Retiree: Don’t forget to, Make sure you always, Remember that, my favorite memory with the retiree,
Create a Memories Book
Capture meaningful moments into a memories book for the retiree to take home. You can also compile photos, documents, videos into Google Slides. Or for an automated PDF to present, collect tributes, photos, and messages in the Memories feature of Thanks. Don’t forget to include their retirement award at the same time.
- Ask people to share memories or advice they received from the retiree
- Encourage a video or written tribute
- Collect photos, awards, and accomplishment documentation involving the retiree
Present the retiree with an electronic version. You can also print and bind a hard copy for a sweet gift to present them at their retirement party
Blast their Mailbox
Harry Potter got hundreds of letters inviting him to Hogwarts. Create the same excitement with your retiree by blasting their mailbox with invitations or sentimental cards. Send a card every day to their mailbox, or email, inviting them to their retirement party.
Or, hand out cards and addressed stamped envelopes and ask colleagues and coworkers mail a card to the retiree. Everyone loves receiving mail, in the digital age.
Keynote Speaker
Invite a person the retiree admires to speak at their retirement. This could be a local celebrity, a motivational speaker, or the CEO. If it’s a professional speaker, you may need to pay their fee or travel costs. It’s an experience your retiree, and the rest of your crew will remember.
Remember Remote Employees
Even if the retiree has been working remotely, you should celebrate their retirement and take the time to express gratitude for their contribution and efforts. And, it’s important to include other remote employees in the celebration.
Too often, remote employees are not remembered or included with the same degree as office employees, especially if the majority of workers are on-site workers. Invite all employees and colleagues to share memories, advice, and laughs with the retiree.
If the situation warrants, you can even celebrate remotely with the retiree. Play games virtually, give a speech and make a collage of memories. Check out other ideas for a virtual retirement party.
Share Contact Information
Even when employees work together for years, they may not have personal contact information. Invite anyone who wants to keep in contact with the retiree to share their contact information. Let them know they can to the extent they are comfortable and that it isn’t a requirement.
Compile the contact info and give it to the retiree. With their permission, share the retiree’s contact information with their colleagues. Take a few moments to encourage employees to connect on social media so sharing is easier.
Maintaining contact can help to preserve relationships. You may also find that the retiree becomes sort of an unofficial mentor now that they have more time to spend with a struggling colleague.
With personal contact information, team members and the retiree can exchange Christmas cards, photos, and emails. It’s a great way to help them maintain the relationships they’ve built at work, even if those relationships change somewhat after retirement.
Schedule a Reunion
Before your retiree leaves, plan on getting together again. A reunion provides a chance for retirees to come back and share the fun they are having in retirement. A reunion can be simple and doesn’t have to take a ton of time to plan.
It can be as simple as having a lunch catered at the office and inviting the retiree. As the guest of honor, they can share their experiences and special projects. A reunion can be a virtual one where they share and chat with their team for 30-45 minutes.
Reunions are special because it allows people a chance to catch up. It strengthens bonds. Invite their old team and others, including clients they worked closely with, to join the reunion.
50 Great Retirement Party Ideas
- Launch a countdown clock until retirement. Share it with the team
- Have door prizes
- Quizzes about the retiree
- Toast the Retiree
- Have a team retirement lunch party
- Smash the alarm clock at the party
- Cater lunch
- Have a raffle and give the proceeds to the retiree
- Do a team escape room together
- Retiree scavenger hunt: search for items like gardening tools, chess pieces, or sticky notes.
- Pin the 401k on the retiree
- How well do you know your coworkers? Ask key questions about each person there.
- Who is the most likely to…learn a new skill, to have your back, to close a tricky sale, to have the best zoom background, to bring their dog to the office, etc
- Bring in a photo booth
- Invite family and friends to come
- Potluck Party- Have everyone bring in their favorite dessert and provide lunch.
- Travel down memory lane: Ask them questions: Who was your first boss, who was the first person you met, Who helped you when you were new, etc
- Mail invitations to the party
- Give out quizzes about the retiree
- Play two truths and a lie
- Create a bucket list for the retiree
- Create a memory book to present to them
- Share personal contact information so they can stay in touch
- Schedule a reunion in a month so they can share exciting experiences about retirement
- Invite a motivational speaker
- Make a video slide share with personalized messages
- Dedicate this month’s newsletter or social media post to the retiree
- Present a meaningful retirement gift
- Lunch at their favorite restaurant
- Gift a community or master class for a hobby they want to learn
- Host an office tournament for the party (mini basktball, ping pong, video games)
- Give them an annual pass to a local sports team
- Gift a certificate to a spa
- Never have I ever game
- Collect letters of reference that express gratitude and give to them
- Send them cards in the mail
- Pass around an autograph book
- Create a memories book
- Schedule a follow-up with a financial advisor for employees to check that their retirement is on track
- Pick a theme: choose an era: 60s, 70s, 80s, Fishing, Harry Potter, Hawaii, or Paris
- Have a movie party
- Theme-based snacks
- Consider a costume party
- Don’t forget the music!
- Honor the retiree speech
- Give the retiree time to make a speech or farewell address
- Give many employees time for a 1-minute speech
- Create a guest book for guests to sign in
- Cut the tie, uniform, or jacket to celebrate
- Retirement wishes jar
- Fireworks
- Take the party outside
- Have a team adventure
- Bring a cake!
- Alarm clock pinata
- Roast the retiree (remember to keep it good-natured)
- Invite a live band
- Retirement bingo
- Don’t forget cool decorations
- Collect advice for the retiree
Conclusion
Retirement is an important benchmark of work. Celebrating it shows your employees you value them, even when they aren’t still working for you. It provides a great way for the team to celebrate together and strengthen bonds.
About Thanks
Thanks is a leading provider of a recognition-based platform that increases communication, builds teamwork, and makes recognition a part of company culture. Fast, easy and simple Thanks makes it easy to bring data-driven employee recognition to your entire organization. O.C. Tanner purchased the Thanks platform in 2019 to fulfill the recognition needs of smaller businesses.
Thanks customers benefit from the same decades of research in employee motivation and company culture that O.C. Tanner enterprise clients enjoy, but in a product that is geared for fast, easy and simple deployment. Whether you’re starting a recognition program or improving and expanding on what you already have, Thanks has everything you need to engage your people with effective, scalable recognition.