Employee Farewell Letter
to the Boss

While most people opt for a final farewell email, there are a couple of reasons for writing a personal employee farewell letter to the boss.

For example,

• Your boss isn't at work on your last day and you want to leave a personal message.
• You are a temporary worker / vacation student wanting to leave a good final impression, for further employment - if you worked well and your boss wants to help you, maybe indicate your interests so they can move you in that direction?
  
• You want to highlight a few things to your supervisor.
  

This is NOT the same as a resignation memo where you are giving notice of leaving work, nor is it an exit interview where you are welcome to rant about or rave with the details of your time there. 

It is simply a courtesy goodbye letter to maintain a future networking contact.

Or, if you wish, it is an opportunity to give constructive feedback or to highlight someone else's efforts.

If you want to bring something negative to your supervisor's attention, use the "sandwich method" - where the criticism is sandwiched between praise or positives.  The supervisor is the best person to do this with, as they are next in the "chain of command" to deal with a problem.  Their boss would wonder why you didn't bring it to the supervisor first, if you wrote such a letter to your supervisor's boss.  The higher up you write to, the more general and positive your letter should be, if you want further contact with the company.  Otherwise just use those anonymous suggestion boxes most companies have!

Have you organised your auto-reply email?  

For when you no longer work there but your email inbox still receives messages.  Use the out-of-office automatic email as another opportunity to put yourself and your contact details in people's minds.

Example goodbyes to your boss

Dear [Boss's name],

I am leaving today and wish to express how glad I am to have been here. Even though this was only a temporary opportunity, I am grateful for what I've learned in such a short time. 

I especially want to mention RST who was the most involved in my training here. She has a great coaching style and I only wish I had the time to learn more from her. I especially appreciate the focus she gave to [specifics e.g. safety/accuracy/etc] and I doubt I will forget what she has taught me.

And having watched and learned from the great team that you have, I leave feeling more confident about my abilities in this industry.
I am inspired to return to the company when I finish my studies, especially if the same team is in place.

Warmest regards, 
[Name]

[Phone number]

[Email]

[LinkedIn profile]

Thinking of giving colleagues a farewell present,

to help them remember you?

[Supervisor's name],

Thank you for the time and effort you have put into ensuring my training was up-to-date and for allowing me to attend courses and conferences.  I have enjoyed working here for the last X years, I have learnt a lot.

I would like to bring your attention to an issue that has concerned me lately, that I've been raising [or only just been able to articulate].  The issue of how core shed workers are treated has disturbed me.  I understand that company attitude is "if you want love, then look in your pay packet", however I feel that the core-loggers are just as qualified as the underground geologists however are treated as "others" and "beneath" the "real" geologists.  I don't understand why the core shed workers are excluded from morning tea breaks with us, like they are ostracised.  I hear negative comments about them in the cubicles where I work, which adds to a pervasive "us and them" culture.  While I am happy to challenge the negative comments, my concern is that the company will not find geologists willing to log the core here or that the quality of work will suffer.  There is already a high turn-over as it is, in the core shed, and those workers are the most qualified to be recruited into the underground as they already know the rocks.  It is a waste of resources and an overlooked toxic company culture.

That being said, my exposure to this has also been a learning experience for me, and was not something I would have noticed when I first worked here.  I have certainly changed for the better, being here.  I also want to let you know that the new graduate program, with its specific structure tailored to ensuring the graduate has experienced all aspects of the mine, really made a difference to my appreciating everyone's job here, seeing how we all fit together.

Thank you for your part in my growth as a professional.

Warm regards,

[Name]

[Phone number]

[Email]

[LinkedIn profile]

Remember - praise, criticism, praise!

Dear [Supervisor's name],

Unfortunately I missed your visit to the warehouse, and thank you for your kind email. Just want to let you know that you have a good team happy to be working for you. So best of luck to all of you and no doubt our paths will cross in the future.

Cheers,
[Name]

[Phone number]

[Email]

[LinkedIn profile]

Dear [Manager's name],

Thank you for the opportunity to work here [part-time/temporarily/ on contract], I am glad I was able to achieve the following targets: [give examples e.g. clear up the database, investigate the missing reports, increase savings by turning off lights etc etc] which were the purpose of my time here.  Now that the job is complete I am looking forward to other opportunities, particularly in [specific interest e.g. IT, administration, marketing?].

As I know my way around here, and understand the company policies and culture, should you ever need me to complete further tasks in the future, please do not hesitate to contact me.  I offer your company another focussed, professional worker on your team.

Many thanks,

[Name]

[Phone number]

[Email]

[LinkedIn profile]

Browse some tricky work farewell questions from our visitors here.

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