I've seen a company during WFH let a laid off employee (who asked) keep their access for an hour, to post a goodbye message.
It's not good practice for all situations -- you need some trust, despite the stressful situation, when people tend to show character and weaknesses -- but in this case, it worked out.
The departing employee posted a message of encouragement to the remaining people.
You can get nearly the same result with less trust: let the employee draft a goodbye message and have the boss (or so) forward that to the other employees.
> A man moves from East Germany to Siberia, where he knows his letters will be censored. He establishes a code with his friends: anything written in blue ink is honest and true; anything written in red ink is false and only there to get the truth past the censors. A month goes by and the man’s friends receive a letter written in blue ink: “Everything is wonderful here. Stores are full of good food. Movie theaters show good films from the West. Apartments are large and luxurious. The only thing you cannot buy is red ink." [1]
Good idea. Though I think the fact that they trusted the departing person, and the departing person delivered -- if it plays out that way -- is much more positive message than effectively implying that the company didn't trust the person.
The company letting a manager relay a message, with any censoring, is certainly better than the person having no way to get their contact info to people, and they might also say something nice for morale.
You are right that the other way sends a stronger signal.
My suggestion was meant as something that's feasible even for a company that already got burned by vengeful leavers; and also something that an individual manager has an easier chance of pulling off, without having to change all of corporate policy.
Surprisingly enough, as toxic as Amazon is, after I got Amazoned and made my choice to “leave Amazon and get a nice severance” instead of “try to work through the PIP and still get fired and only get a third of the severance amount”, they let me stay for a week to finish up a customer project. I worked in Professional Services.
I told them that I really wanted to finish the work for a customer (large state organization) because I liked the customer. They let me stay for a week.
Of course that was bullshit, I took the time to have back channel communications with the customer to see if they would hire me as an independent consultant after I left and to start interviewing.
I’m sure they would have. But I gor a full time offer less than two weeks later.
Sorry about getting Amazoned. They don't have a reputation as a place inspiring loyalty. But, at least in non-Amazon contexts, I absolutely know people who would say they wanted to finish up some work, and they'd mean exactly that.
It's not good practice for all situations -- you need some trust, despite the stressful situation, when people tend to show character and weaknesses -- but in this case, it worked out.
The departing employee posted a message of encouragement to the remaining people.
Kind words and contact info were exchanged, etc.