To never contribute £ to a person leaving work collection ever again?

Happened to me once but its fine just don't put it when they leave again :)

I'm sure the person didn't plan to come back.

If you're annoyed, then 1. Ask for your money back and 2. Just don't contribute again.

Minor thing to even spend a thought on in my opinion.

We stopped doing this ages ago in all my work places. Leaver gets a bunch of flowers and a card paid by the company and that's it.

One place I worked for stopped all collections. There were a couple of incidents where someone who by the by the nature of their job knew everyone and got a big collection while someone else in the same team barely got a bunch of daffodils.

A card would go round but the company would buy a gift but only if the person had been with the business for 2 years.

This sounds all way over the top for a leaving for a new job. Perhaps different if she was retiring, but OTT even for a retirement!

I'd just laughingly say so the newbie drinks are on you then.

This happened in a place I worked years ago. We just laughed about it and joked with the person about wanting the presents back. But it doesn't really matter does it?
I suppose we should take the same approach as people take to loaning money, don't give what you can't afford to lose.

I think it also depends on the size of the team. If you have a tiny team and you all stick £2 then that's a bit mean. Personally I wouldn't stick in less than £5 unless I actively disliked the person. or they are a lazy b*gger

In the past I used to contribute a few pounds for someone I knew but wasn't overly friendly with, someone that I knew very well I would take for lunch including my direct reports. I think with remote working and electronic payments no one is putting £2 in the kitty anymore and when you collections for babies, significant birthdays, bereavement, operations, leaving it's like the cost of a cheap gym membership...

You are very generous. I was the secretary and I never gave a penny. Most directors on 100k gave a fiver, lol.
This happened to me once, in that I spent my own money on a load of snacks for the whole team of about 50 when one guy was leaving. Also bought loads of drinks in the pub. He'd been there years and was quite popular. Making some grand move abroad. Skinted myself but thought it was a nice gesture.
One month later, guy comes back cap in hand and walks straight into his old job again!?
I was like, gimme me beer and kettle chips back you bastard! Lol, not really but I felt very peeved.

I think yanbu but purely because I too gave to collections but got no leaving collection after my 16 years for the company. I was on parental leave and got made redundant just before my return. If I contribute again it would only be a few quid up to a fiver max

I know someone whose colleagues arranged a party in the office with gifts and cards and drinks for their leaving do.

It was a bit awkward as they'd just been told their contract had been extended.

You’re being silly about the person who came back. It’s not like they planned it. I know loads of people who have gone back to workplaces.

I do think you’re overly generous though and can see why that annoys you. Personally I think it should be on the employer to stump up for a gift, not the employees!

What an odd over reaction!
If this happened 3x in a row, maybe… but it’s happened once, out of all these many times you’ve donated?
I don’t agree with collections in the workplace at all, it’s too much pressure when not all can afford it.
But it seems like a pretty unusual one off!
I think it would be nice if the returners bought a round of drinks for the team - but I wouldn’t expect it, as they didn’t know they were coming back and if they already spent the money, that round of drinks might be expensive for them!
Providing welcome back cakes might be a nice gesture.

I am definitely in the club of adjusting the contribution dependent on how much I like the person / closely I work with them. We are a big organisation and generally friendly / supportive colleagues. Most people get huge collections but it's always awkward when you can tell everyone is reluctant to contribute. The worst case was a senior manager where they couldn't even persuade people to sign the card so they had to just put in a really generic 'all the best for the future from the team' message 😬

I think £10 is too much unless it's a very small team/ very close colleague, but a colleague deciding to come back in a way that suits everyone, isn't something to get upset about IMO.

There's a collection nearly every month in my place. I contribute £5 to the collections of the people I like. If it's someone on my team I'll contribute £10. I don't give to every collection. For example this month there's a collection for a member of staff who is moving from one team to another one (social work). She's literally moving desks. I've decided I won't contribute to that collection.

Years (and years) ago in my first job, one of the junior members of the team turned 18 so we had a collection.
2 years later, she got engaged so another collection.
Turned 21, had another collection.
Wedding looming, yet another collection.
He left her when she was out on her hen do.
Another collection was suggested “to help her get back on her feet”! I declined to donate at that point and oh boy did I get some stick!

We sometimes have people leave and then stay on as freelancers. Doesn't bother me. We even have people leave, update their training and come back years later to a more senior position.
I only contribute towards people I routinely work with.

If you regularly have leavers, cut your contributions to £5. I work in a small office and so tend to give £10, but that's because it's once a year max.

That happened at a job I did about twenty years ago. Our supervisor (let's call her Michelle) was leaving and we were all very heavily encouraged to "be generous" for 'Michelle' because she was "the heart of our workplace". She wasn't. She was actually awful to work with but that's a tale for another time. Anyway we all contributed heavily (keep in mind I was very young at the time and hadn't yet learned to say no firmly) So 'Michelle' has a massive leaving do, proper big sit down meal followed by drinks and a huge party then two other nights out all paid for by us. That's on top of the very expensive jewellery, wine, clothing, chocolates, handbag and purse we had got her... She spends most of those nights slagging us all off to our faces of course. Less than a month later she returns and of course everyone acts like nothing happened! I felt similarly to you OP. But I learned my lesson to be a little more firm about not getting caught up in the giving culture, I still give a little something just not the silly amounts 'Michelle' got. Can laugh about it now cos it was ridiculous really but as another poster said, the leaver is likely putting on a brave face and actually fairly embarrassed underneath.

Come on! This is on the company, not the person who left. You need to let your resentment go or move on yourself as it's directed at the wrong person.

Why don't you leave and come back after a month? It will even up then 😀

It is very unusual for someone to leave and come back. I suspect the collegue feels a bit awkward about it too.

For me it is two seperate things I would be happy to contribute to collegue leaving. And pleased to get a fully trained person back after a month of covering. I wouldnt contribute to a leaving gift for this person if they leave again in the next 3 years.