How To Send Farewell Emails to Coworkers

A farewell email is an email that is sent out by someone who is leaving their job. The email usually thanks everyone for the experience and says a few positive things about the company. It may even include the reason why they are leaving. Many departing employees send their email to a distribution list, which could include the entire department or the entire team.

Should You Send a Farewell Email?

You might be wondering whether or not you should send a farewell email if you're leaving pretty soon. Experts agree that it's a good idea to send one. It shows that you are thankful for the experience at the company and lets your co-workers that you are leaving just in case they haven't heard it through the grapevine yet!

What you put into the farewell email, though, is another story. Let's look at some do's and don'ts for this email.

The Do's in a Farewwell Email

You should try to include these things in a farewell email:

• When your last day is (e.g. "today is my last day" or "this Friday is my last day")
• Only positive things about your time at the company
• Anything you're proud of or impressed with within the company, such as the culture, passion of the people, quality of the products
• What you're doing next, within reason
• Contact details, if you want people to contact you outside of work (such as a personal email address)
• LinkedIn profile link

A few other things to consider:

• Keep it short. Nobody wants to read a full page farewell email.
• The longer you've been there, the more people you send it to. A wider distribution list is fine if you've been there a while. But, if it's only a short term role, then send it to a select few people who you've worked with.

The Don'ts In A Farewell Email

Having said that, there are a few things you shouldn't include in a farewell email:

• Anything negative or unpleasant about your manager, your coworkers, or the company. It's unprofessional and will come back to hurt you.
• The specifics of where you're going or what you're doing next. Most of the time it isn't relevant, and you may have told the people closest to you anyway.

So, there's some things you should do and some you shouldn't do when sending a farewell email to your coworkers. Many people depart a company without sending out a farewell email.  Only you know your circumstances and if the email would even be appropriate.  As in all things, use your own judgment.

Photo Courtesy of Stuart Miles at Freedigitalphotos.net