What Happened to Retirement Bashes
[7 May 2006 - The Wall Street Journal] Retirement isn't what it used to be. Neither are retirement parties. Gone are the days when companies relied on the traditional gold watch to recognize long-serving employees during a predictable annual group departure. Instead, as the demographics of the workplace have changed, so have the send-offs. More often, they now are impromptu, arranged by peers and, in many cases, marked by mixed emotions. "As the nature of the psychological contract between organizations and employees has changed...you really don't have an easy time figuring out what does it mean to do a retirement party," says Rocki-Lee DeWitt, dean of the University of Vermont School of Business in Burlington. "Do you do a retirement party for people who take early-retirement buyouts? Usually it's not a celebratory context because the performance of the firm is challenged. It's almost like a slap in the face for people who weren't eligible for early retirement to recognize the people getting to leave the place before it tanks." ...