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Farewell to the 9-to-5 — five chapters
Photo wall assembly → best moments carousel → farewell post-it contributions → globe destination pin → wave animation + Journey Begins badge.
Free plan · No app download · Delivered via WhatsApp
What makes this experience special
Photo wall assembly
Chapter 1: career photos pin to a board one by one — from first day to retirement, everything they built.
Best moments carousel
The highlights of their career play out — the milestones, the wins, the moments that defined their work.
Farewell post-it contributions
The whole team adds post-it farewell messages — a wall of appreciation that fills with every contribution.
Globe destination pin
Chapter 4: a globe spins and a pin drops on where they're going next — the beginning of the next chapter.
Journey Begins badge
The finale waves goodbye and unlocks the Journey Begins badge — a beautiful start to the next chapter.
Photo from the journey
Add photos from across their career — early days, team milestones, the moments that mattered most.
How it works
- 1
Choose the Retirement experience and enter their name and career details.
- 2
Add career highlights and your send-off message.
- 3
Share the link so the whole team can add their post-it messages.
- 4
Present on their last day — five chapters worth every year.
“A career is a life. The send-off should feel like one.”
— The Wowzey team
Planning a Career moment
Retirement in India looks quite different depending on the sector. Government and PSU employees typically retire at a fixed statutory age — 58 or 60 depending on the department and role — with the date known well in advance and often marked with a formal office ceremony. Private sector retirement is far less standardised; some professionals wind down gradually, others retire early by choice, and the send-off is usually organised informally by colleagues rather than through an official HR process. Knowing which situation applies changes how far ahead you should start planning the farewell — government retirements can be planned for weeks, private sector ones sometimes come together in days.
A retirement card differs from a regular office farewell in the scope of what it should cover — this isn't marking someone's departure from one role, it's marking the end of an entire working chapter, often 25-35 years long. That scale means the message benefits from covering more than the most recent projects; asking a few longtime colleagues, including any who've since left the company, to contribute a memory from earlier in the person's career adds a dimension that recent teammates alone can't provide.
It's also worth including family in the send-off where possible — for many Indian professionals, a career of that length was a shared undertaking with a spouse or family managing the household around demanding work hours, and a message or invitation that acknowledges that, rather than treating the retirement purely as an individual professional milestone, tends to be genuinely appreciated.
Gift ideas by recipient
A colleague retiring
- A board spanning their whole career there — pull in people from every era, including those who left
- The tone is a send-off, not a eulogy; funny and specific beats solemn
- One good object for the next chapter, or a contribution to the thing they keep saying they will finally do
A parent or family member retiring
- A photo experience of the career — first job, the moves, the promotions — that the family may not have seen
- A note about what their work made possible for the people around them
What to actually write
Adapt these — they work because they name something specific. A line that could be sent to anyone reads like it was.
“Thirty-one years. You trained half this floor, including me, and never once made a question feel stupid. The place will run worse without you and everyone knows it. Enjoy every slow morning.”
“You did the same commute for 28 years so we would not have to worry about anything. We noticed, even when we did not say so. Enjoy this. You have more than earned the rest.”
Common mistakes
- Making it solemn when a proper send-off should have jokes in it
- Only hearing from the current team when a whole career's worth of people would want to say something
Frequently asked questions
What is the typical retirement age in India — is it the same everywhere?+
Government and PSU employees generally retire at a fixed age of 58 or 60 depending on the department, with the date set well in advance. Private sector retirement is much less standardised — some professionals retire earlier by choice, others continue working past 60 in advisory or consulting capacities, so there's no single fixed age across the board.
What should a retirement send-off include beyond the standard congratulations?+
Since it's marking the end of an entire career rather than just a departure, it helps to include memories that span the full length of their tenure — not just recent projects — and ideally input from former colleagues who worked with them early on, since that adds a dimension current teammates alone can't provide.
Can former colleagues who've left the company still contribute to the card?+
Yes — the contribution link can be shared with anyone, including former employees no longer at the company, which is often exactly where the earliest, most meaningful memories of a long career come from.
Is the Retirement card free to create?+
Yes, it's on the free plan, and it can be shared via WhatsApp so both current colleagues and former ones who've since moved on can easily add their message before the final send-off.