How Much to Give for a Farewell Gift at Work
Someone in your team is moving on, an email lands asking everyone to chip in, and now you're stuck on the only question that matters: how much do you actually put in? Give too little and you feel stingy; give too much and you've quietly set an awkward benchmark for everyone else.
Here's the reassuring truth up front: a farewell gift contribution for a coworker is usually $10 to $50, and $20 is the most common amount. No one is auditing the collection. What matters is that you contribute at all, and that it fits the relationship and your budget.
This guide breaks down how much to give for a farewell gift for a coworker in Australia — by how close you are, by seniority, and by the size of the team — plus the etiquette that keeps a workplace collection easy. If you're the one running it, our guide to starting a leaving gift collection for a coworker covers the organiser side.
Last updated: July 2026.
Key takeaways
- The typical farewell contribution is $20. Across workplace and group collections run through PocketWell, the median contribution is $20 and the average is around $30.
- $10 to $50 covers almost everyone. Roughly 9 in 10 workplace contributions land in this band — the middle half sit between about $20 and $40.
- Closeness beats seniority. A daily desk mate might give $30–$50; someone you barely worked with can give $10–$20 and be perfectly polite.
- It's the total that impresses, not any one amount. Twenty people at $20 each is a $400 send-off — pooling is the whole point of a coworker leaving gift.
- Contributing is optional and private. A good collection never names who gave what, and no one should feel pressured to join.
On this page
- How much to give for a farewell gift at work
- Farewell gift amounts by relationship
- Does seniority change how much you give?
- How team size affects your farewell gift contribution
- Etiquette for a workplace leaving collection
- How online farewell collections work
- Frequently asked questions
How much to give for a farewell gift at work
For a coworker's farewell gift, most people give between $10 and $50, with $20 being the typical amount. That single figure covers the vast majority of workplace collections, whether it's a leaving do, a retirement send-off, or a farewell before parental leave.
We can be specific here because we can see it in the data. Across group and workplace collections run through PocketWell, the median contribution is $20 and the average is around $30 — and about 92% of individual contributions fall between $10 and $50. The middle 50% of givers land between roughly $20 and $40.
That's a much tighter range than personal gifting. For comparison, the median gift across every occasion on PocketWell — weddings, birthdays, baby showers — is $100. Farewell contributions sit far lower because they're pooled: your $20 joins everyone else's, and the group gift adds up fast.
So if you take one number away, make it this: $20 is a safe, normal, no-one-will-blink farewell gift contribution. Adjust up or down from there based on the relationship and your own budget.
Farewell gift amounts by relationship
How close you were to the person leaving matters more than their job title. A quick guide to farewell gift amounts by relationship tier:
| Your relationship | Suggested contribution | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Someone you rarely worked with | $10 – $15 | Contributing at all is the gesture; a small amount is completely fine. |
| A regular colleague | $20 – $30 | The default for most teams; matches the typical amount. |
| A close teammate or work friend | $30 – $50 | You'll likely want to give a little more, and often will. |
| A direct report leaving your team | $30 – $50+ | Managers often give a touch more, but there's no obligation. |
| A mentor or someone who really helped you | $50+ | Entirely personal — give what feels right to you. |
These ranges reflect real contribution patterns seen across PocketWell collections, not a rulebook. The through-line is simple: contribution gifting is proportional to the relationship, not a fixed tax on the whole office. If you sat next to someone for three years, $40 feels natural. If you exchanged maybe ten emails, $10 is genuinely enough.
One thing to remember — nobody sees the individual amounts unless the organiser deliberately shares them, and good etiquette says they shouldn't. So give the amount that's comfortable for you, not the one you think others expect.
Not sure the person leaving is your boss or a peer? The answer changes the vibe more than the dollar figure — see our take on a group gift for the boss from the team.
Does seniority change how much you give?
Seniority nudges the amount slightly, but not as much as people assume. Whether you're contributing to a farewell for a graduate, a long-serving manager, or someone retiring after decades, the typical range stays $10 to $50 per person.
Where seniority does show up is in the total. A retirement send-off for a well-loved veteran often draws more contributors and a slightly higher average, because more people want to mark the moment. That's the collection growing, not any one person being expected to give more. If you're weighing a retirement specifically, our guide on how much to give for a retirement gift goes deeper.
A few honest pointers on seniority:
- Giving to a departing manager? $20–$40 is normal. You don't need to give more just because they were senior to you.
- A junior teammate leaving? The same range applies. A smaller send-off isn't a smaller sentiment.
- The CEO or a founder leaving? Contribute what you'd give any colleague — a leaving collection isn't a performance review.
The goal of a coworker leaving gift is warmth, not hierarchy. Keep the amount tied to how much the person meant to you day to day.
How team size affects your farewell gift contribution
The bigger the team, the smaller each person can give — because more people are pooling in. This is the maths that makes group-gift pooling work, and it's worth doing before you decide your amount.
| Team size | Typical per-person contribution | Rough collection total |
|---|---|---|
| Small team (5 people) | $20 – $40 | $100 – $200 |
| Medium team (10–15 people) | $15 – $30 | $200 – $400 |
| Large office (25+ people) | $10 – $20 | $300 – $500+ |
In a five-person team, each contribution carries more weight, so people tend to give a bit more. In a 30-person office, $15 each still funds a genuinely generous send-off — a nice experience voucher, a good bottle, or a group card with a real gift attached.
Quick tip: if you're organising, suggest a soft range like "$10–$30, no pressure" rather than a fixed figure. It gives people permission to give what suits them and quietly removes the awkwardness. Our group gift ideas for coworkers has more on setting an easy tone.
Etiquette for a workplace leaving collection
The golden rule of a workplace collection: joining is always optional, and amounts are always private. Get those two things right and the rest falls into place.
A few etiquette points that keep a farewell collection smooth across any Australian workplace, from a Sydney startup to a Melbourne corporate floor:
- Never pressure anyone. A single, friendly message with a link is enough. No public tally of who's paid, no chasing.
- Keep amounts confidential. The organiser sees contributions to manage the gift; the wider team never needs to. This is where a digital collection beats an envelope of cash doing the rounds.
- Set a clear close date. "Contributions by Friday" gives people a nudge without nagging.
- Skip it if you're brand new or barely knew them. No one expects a two-week starter to chip in for a farewell.
- Cash-only collections quietly exclude people. Fewer of us carry cash, so an envelope can mean the person without a $20 note simply misses out. A link everyone can tap solves that.
If you'd rather not run a paper tin around the office, an online office collection handles the awkward money-handling for you — everyone contributes privately from their phone, and there's no cash to reconcile at the end.
How online farewell collections work
An online farewell collection replaces the cash envelope with a single link everyone can chip into from their phone. The organiser creates a page for the person leaving, shares the link or a QR code in the team chat, and each person contributes privately with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a card.
Here's why more Australian teams run farewell collections this way:
- No cash to chase or count. Contributions land in one place, tallied automatically.
- Private by default. People give what they can without the whole office seeing.
- Free for the organiser. On PocketWell, setting up and running a collection costs the host nothing — guests cover a small platform fee (3.5% from January 2026) plus standard payment processing, shown before they pay. The organiser keeps 100% of what's collected.
- Payouts are straightforward. Collected funds are paid out weekly on Tuesdays via Stripe, so the organiser can buy the gift or transfer the total once the collection closes. (The first payout takes 5–7 business days for verification; after that, most arrive 1–3 business days after the Tuesday run.)
Full disclosure: these figures come from PocketWell's own platform — we run these collections, so we see the amounts and patterns directly. If you want the money mechanics in detail, our fees and payouts FAQ lays it out. For the how-much side, the etiquette above and the tables are your guide.
Organising a farewell for someone at work? Here's how to collect money for a group gift online — share one link, everyone chips in privately, and there's no cash to chase.
Frequently asked questions
Q: How much should I give for a coworker's farewell gift?
A: For a coworker's farewell gift, $10 to $50 is the normal range, and $20 is the most common contribution. Across workplace and group collections on PocketWell, the median contribution is $20 and the average is around $30. Base your amount on how close you were rather than the person's seniority — a daily teammate might give $30–$50, while someone you rarely worked with can give $10–$20 and be perfectly polite. Remember your contribution is pooled with everyone else's, so even a modest amount adds up to a generous group gift. There's no fixed rule, and no one sees what you individually gave.
Q: Is $20 enough for a leaving gift at work?
A: Yes — $20 is enough for a farewell gift at work and is the single most common amount people give. It sits right on the median for workplace collections, so you'll be giving exactly what a typical colleague gives. If you were especially close to the person leaving you might choose $30–$50, but $20 is a safe, polite default that no one will think twice about. What lifts a send-off isn't any one person's amount — it's the pool. Twenty colleagues at $20 each funds a $400 gift, which buys something genuinely nice.
Q: Do I have to contribute to a workplace collection?
A: No. Contributing to a coworker leaving gift is always optional, and good etiquette means no one should be pressured or publicly tracked. If you barely knew the person, only recently joined, or money is tight this month, it's completely fine to skip it or give a small amount like $10. A well-run collection keeps contributions private, so there's no tally of who gave what. If you'd like to give but the timing is awkward, even a modest contribution plus signing the card is a warm gesture. The point is the collective send-off, not any individual obligation.
Q: How much should the boss or manager give for a farewell?
A: A manager typically gives a little more than the team average — often $30–$50 — but there's no obligation to. Some managers also add a separate personal card or gift on top of the group collection, especially for a long-serving or close team member. The key is not to set an uncomfortable benchmark: if the manager puts in $200, colleagues may feel their $20 looks small. A tidy approach is for the manager to contribute in the normal range through the group collection and, if they wish, give something personal separately.
Q: How do you collect money for a farewell gift without using cash?
A: The easiest way is an online collection: one person creates a page for the coworker leaving, shares the link or a QR code in the team chat, and everyone contributes from their phone with Apple Pay, Google Pay, or a card. There's no cash to carry, count, or chase, and each person's amount stays private. On PocketWell it's free for the organiser to set up, and the collected total is paid out weekly on Tuesdays via Stripe. It's faster than an envelope, more inclusive for people who don't carry cash, and everything is tallied automatically.
Q: When should you start a farewell collection?
A: Start a farewell collection about one to two weeks before the person's last day. That gives colleagues time to contribute without feeling rushed and leaves you room to buy the gift or arrange a card before they leave. Set a clear close date — something like "contributions by Friday" — so people know the window. If it's a bigger send-off like a retirement, starting a little earlier helps, since more people usually want to join in and you may want to organise a card, a gift, and a small gathering.
Q: What's a good farewell gift to spend the collection on?
A: Popular choices include an experience voucher, a nice restaurant or spa gift card, a quality bottle, or a group contribution toward something the person actually wants — a hobby, a trip, or a treat for their next chapter. For a retirement, many teams pool toward a bigger, more memorable gift. The beauty of a group collection is flexibility: once the total is in, you can choose the gift to match the amount raised. A heartfelt group card signed by everyone almost always accompanies it, whatever you buy.
Final tips for getting the amount right
When in doubt, give $20 and don't overthink it. That's the amount most Australians land on for a coworker's farewell, it fits almost any team, and it never looks out of place. Nudge up if you were close, ease down if you barely worked together, and remember that showing up for the collection matters more than the figure.
If you're the one organising the send-off — for a leaving do, a retirement, or a farewell before parental leave — the simplest path is a link everyone can tap, with amounts kept private and no cash to reconcile.
Ready to make the coworker send-off easy? Start a free group collection — it's free for you to run, everyone chips in from their phone, and there's no envelope doing laps of the office.