What changes when someone leaves a remote team
In an office, a leaving announces itself: you see the person packing up, you meet for a drink, you sign the card going round the desks. Remotely, none of that happens unless someone makes it happen.
The risk isn't that nobody cares. It's that there's no moment. Without a date in the diary, everyone assumes someone else is sorting it, and the last day arrives with a handful of messages scattered across the chat. A little planning is all it takes to make a remote goodbye as warm as one in person.
How to run a leaving party on video
A good virtual leaving party is short, planned and hosted. Here's how:
- Agree the date with the person leaving, or with their manager if you want a surprise, ideally at lunchtime or at the end of the day.
- Send an invitation with a clear title and one video link for everyone.
- Ask one person to host: they open the call, invite people to speak and keep it from dragging on.
- Plan time for a few colleagues to say something, then for the person leaving to reply.
- Suggest everyone brings a drink or a slice of cake, to keep the feel of a real leaving party.
- Finish with the card or the gift, then leave the call open for a few minutes for anyone who wants to chat.
Twelve ideas for a remote goodbye
Pick one or two, depending on the size of the team and the personality of the person leaving:
- A quiz about the person leaving, put together with help from their closest colleagues.
- A round of memories, where everyone shares one moment in a couple of sentences.
- A slideshow of photos and screenshots from the team's best moments.
- A shared playlist, with everyone adding a song that reminds them of the person.
- Matching backgrounds with their photo, switched on together at the start of the call.
- A short video of messages recorded in advance by anyone who can't join.
- Lunch delivered to everyone at the same time, so you can eat together on screen.
- A surprise parcel sent to their home, opened live during the call.
- A round of tips, where everyone suggests a book, a place or a habit for the next chapter.
- An online team game, like a drawing and guessing game or a general knowledge quiz, or a hosted activity such as the virtual quizzes and cocktail classes run by Hooray Teams.
- An online group card that everyone signs before the call.
- Written recommendations from the whole team, which they receive at the end of the call.
A card and a gift that travel
With a remote team, a paper card going round isn't an option. An online group leaving card replaces it easily: one link, everyone writes when they like, and the person sees nothing until the day you choose.
With a Leaving Pack from Take Your Skills you can go further than a card: everyone writes a recommendation in secret, with help from an assistant if they don't know where to start. During the call, you close the pack and the person gets every message by email, to read straight away or later. They stay on their profile for future job applications. It's free, and all you need to set it up is their first and last name.
For the gift, choose something easy to deliver: an experience voucher, a subscription, a food hamper, a book. There are more ideas in our leaving gift ideas for a colleague.
To collect money for the gift, set up a money pot on any site you like and add its link to the Leaving Pack: colleagues suggest gift ideas, vote and chip in from the same page, wherever they are.
Messages to read out or write during the call
For the online card, the team chat or your turn to speak. Replace the parts in square brackets.
We've only met in person a handful of times, but you've always been there, [Name]. Thank you, and good luck with what's next!
We'll miss how quickly you answered on the chat, and your good mood even more. Thanks for everything.
You made working from home feel a lot less lonely. Thanks for all the calls that started with a joke.
Thank you for always taking the time to answer my questions, even on the busiest days. All the best.
Screen or no screen, you've been a brilliant colleague. Your next team is lucky to have you.
Thanks for staying calm on the most hectic days. We could feel it even through the screen.
Shall we promise a real coffee in person before you go? Thanks for everything, [Name].
You brought people together in a team that almost never sees each other. That's a real talent.
Common mistakes
Remote goodbyes that go wrong usually go wrong for the same reasons:
- Planning nothing, on the basis that a message in the chat will do.
- A call that runs too long, with no host, where nobody dares to speak.
- Forgetting time zones for colleagues abroad.
- Posting the card link in a channel the person leaving is in.
- Sending a gift without checking the address, or to an office they no longer go to.
Getting your words ready
If you're the one speaking on the call, a few sentences are enough: one memory, one quality, one wish. Our farewell speech guide will help you find them, and our guide on what to write in a leaving card has more lines for every kind of colleague.