The Last Day at Work: More Than Just a Goodbye

On his last day, Daniel spent the morning hiding his remaining business cards around the office and warehouse.

One inside every drawer, one under every desk. In cupboards, around the kitchen, plant pots, anywhere a card could be easily placed, he placed one. Three years later, his cards are still being found. Usually with a smile, a shake of the head and a mention to colleagues that another card has been found.

On another last day, a colleague hid a tiny sound-activated device behind a cupboard. Every so often, it would pick up noise and let out a chirp. Nobody knew where it was coming from. The building maintenance team were called out twice, eventually it was found wedged against the wall.

Then there was the colleague who, as their last act, forwarded every incoming call on their desk phone to the colleague who had made their working life hardest.

Any leaving-day story from your workplace?

Most last days don't go this far; a card does the round. A speech or two, applause.

Pranks normally work best when there's a relationship underneath them. People know the person. They know their habits, learnt over time.

Who was always late? Who kept secretly turning the temperature up (or down) or changing the light settings when no one was looking? Who left used coffee mugs in the sink. Who was the first to organise a birthday cake, fix the printer.

Those things only come from people knowing each other over time. And that's exactly what makes human connection hard to automate.

Arguable these things are increasingly more important as work placed become more AI-dominated.

The final few days in a role can be a moment the team can remember what someone brought to the organisation, and appreciate them and tell them.

A leaving colleagues deserve more than a planned administrative offboarding process.

That's the idea behind creating digital leaving pages for when someone leaves. Instead of relying on one person to buy a card and chase everyone at the last minute, a whole team can contribute their own messages, photos and memories — building a proper farewell together with meaning.

Just people, saying goodbye properly.