Funeral recognition/gifts

Ranger

Need some ideas! A former (retired) ee just died (41 years tenure). In discussing the amount of donation we should give, I said sometimes I initiate the request, sometimes our corporate relations directors does. Also, we are not consistent in recognizing a death and in how much we donate.

What do you do for former ee's? For retired ee's? Should we do the same for a former ee with 3 YOS as 41 YOS? (We decided $100 is apppropriate for this particular person.) Do you send money plus flowers to the funeral home?

Thanks in advance.

Dutch2

Mayber we have been doing this all wrong, but I don't believe we have ever donated money to the family. We send flowers from the company and various depts. We do accept donations from ee's but this money is used to purchase food for the family as well as several home cooked items are provided to the famiy by ee's.

LivindonSouth

I have never been involved in or heard of a company donating money to the family of a retired deceased. The idea of taking up money or donating money when somebody dies has always been appalling to me. I wonder what that money goes toward. Flowers or a memorial gift to a charity are, in my estimation, the only appropriate response.

Ranger

I guess I never thought of a money gift as tacky. Around here (Wisconsin), it seems money is the appropriate thing to do. We usually do send flowers, but this one requested no flowers, and a charity was not named. In this case, I know the money will help defray the funeral costs.

Time to rethink our policy.

njjel

Often times gifts of money do help to defray funeral expenses or go toward the purchase of a grave marker. We have gathered funds in the past for a current ee that died and it was used by the family to purchase a grave marker. The family nor the employee was not well off financially and there were also abundant expenses the family encountered that weren't covered by insurance. In your case I would go by what you know to be the case and if the funds could be used by the family, then by all means give them the funds. Otherwise flowers to the service would certainly be appropriate.