Civil Service - Death Notices & Retirements

Tails142

So, in my work email, LITERALLY every second email that I get is either a department wide death notice of someone that nobody has heard of (in my office), or details of someones retirement (again, of someone that nobody knows)

Its both depressing and a bit of a joke. I mean, does this sort of thing happen in anyone else's workplace or is it solely a feature of the Civil Service - I know its not much of an issue, just hit delete but its a form of spam and a constant reminder of DEATH!!

inarut

Tails142 wrote: »

So, in my work email, LITERALLY every second email that I get is either a department wide death notice of someone that nobody has heard of (in my office), or details of someones retirement (again, of someone that nobody knows)

Its both depressing and a bit of a joke. I mean, does this sort of thing happen in anyone else's workplace or is it solely a feature of the Civil Service - I know its not much of an issue, just hit delete but its a form of spam and a constant reminder of DEATH!!

From my experience in both the private and public sectors, it seems to be solely a feature of the civil service. Anytime I come back from holidays, lets say for 2 weeks, I have to work my way through and delete at least 200 deaths or retirements. Its a large department but such mails should just be sent to specific public folders. A bit depressing really....

BlackWizard

heh, I remember them. Used to work for the Revenue and nearly every day someone would retire or pass away. I often wondered how many people are actually working in the revenue. There were only about 20 in my department out in Tallaght. None of them ever retired or died *touch wood*

ixoy

Yep, I have a special "Death" folder to filter all those mails into as well as a "Retirement" one. It's ridiculous really, although the retirement ones are most frightening when you see people who've been forty years...

mikemac

That would be annoying.
I do know AIB have a bulletin board that staff are free to read and of course free to ignore.
Any notices can be posted there and read in good time by those who are interested.

Not sure why the Revenue or any company would do something like this.
What's the point in telling staff in Cork that someone in Letterkenny is retiring?

Jo King

It often happens that people who are retiring have been in the organisation for years and quite often they will have moved around and will know others who have moved around over the years. Someone in Cork may well have worked for years with someone who eventually ended up in Letterkenny. It may not seem important to new recruits, but it is important to the people involved to have the support of their colleagues when an important life event takes place.

RoseBlossom

+1

I've seen it in the private sector, but it just wouldn't be as common since many large organisations (think of an accountancy firm) would have a much younger age profile.

I don't think it's morbid. I think it would be worse to retire after 40 years (or die) and have no one care, or people who do care find out by chance a month after your funeral/departure.

pow wow

It's happened minimally in most places I worked (i.e. if someone most people were likely to know (say IT or HR peeps) died....) but I remember from last year in the civil service that we'd get emails about peoples' PARENTS who had died (i.e. Announcement of the death of Joe Bloggs, father of Dan Bloggs in Audit) which baffled me.

krankykitty

ellscurr wrote: »

It's happened minimally in most places I worked (i.e. if someone most people were likely to know (say IT or HR peeps) died....) but I remember from last year in the civil service that we'd get emails about peoples' PARENTS who had died (i.e. Announcement of the death of Joe Bloggs, father of Dan Bloggs in Audit) which baffled me.

It prevents the sort of conversations where you say to someone, "oh hey John, hows your father?" and he says "he died last month" - cue red faces all round.

inarut

the strangest one i came across in my office is when some ex-managers wifes brother-in-law died a few years back. the person issuing the mail also conveniently attached a large map (in pdf format) with directions to get to the funeral home and then sent it out to all mail users...

pow wow

krankykitty wrote: »

It prevents the sort of conversations where you say to someone, "oh hey John, hows your father?" and he says "he died last month" - cue red faces all round.

Oh, well when you put it like that it makes perfect sense

gazzer

I have worked in 3 different government departments and revenue was the only one of three that emailed death notices.. I thought it was weird the first time I got one of those mails but after the first 100 you get used to it

I always think it is funny though that when the deceased is announced they usually have at least 3 relatives working in the department that would be mentioned in the mail.