Retirement Announcement Emails: How to Bid Farewell Professionally

Retirement Announcement

After working for many years, the next step is to retire. First off, we’d like to start with our congratulations. Retirement is no easy feat. After deciding to retire, the next thing to do is inform your colleagues of your decision to retire, ergo, your retirement announcement email

While a retirement announcement letter can be likened to a resignation letter, they’re not similar. The former often refers to you stopping work entirely, while the latter often means you’re changing jobs. Retiring doesn’t mean you stop working altogether; with 55% of people planning to work even after retiring, it means something different for everybody. 

Announcing a retirement is a challenging task. It takes an emotional toll on you and everyone you work with. So, ensuring your retirement announcement is written well to ease these pains goes a long way. 

Before officially sending in your retirement message, there are conversations you must have and decisions you must make. This not only aids a smooth retirement; it also shows your goodwill towards the company. 

In this section of this article, we will discuss everything you need to put in place before announcing your retirement. 

Actions to Take Before Announcing Your Retirement

While it may not be your contractual obligation, ensuring a smooth transition between you and whoever succeeds you after your retirement ultimately helps the company and reduces the impact of your retirement. Deciding to do the bare minimum or going a tad overboard depends entirely on your relationship with the company. 

Before announcing your retirement, here are some things you must do:

Read the company’s policy on retirement: To ensure you’re doing everything by the books, you should read the company’s policy on retirement before officially retiring. This way, you know what the company expects from you and can work that into your plans. 

Offer your services to make the transition smoother: Hiring to fill in your role would not be easy for the company to handle, even more so if it’s done without your help. Offering to help with the transition may vary according to the role and the company’s needs. It could mean helping with the interview process, the onboarding, etc.

Give ample notice of your retirement: Giving ample notice of your retirement helps the company in more ways than one. It gives them time to hire to fill your position and to restructure when you’re gone. Doing this helps them prepare instead of cutting them off at the knees. 

Discuss your availability for consultation: Even after the company has filled your position, there’s a high chance they may need your help occasionally. Depending on your replacement’s skill, this may happen more frequently than you’d prefer. So, before officially leaving, discuss what you’re comfortable with. 

Decide who gets personal messages: While you decide to send a generic email to all members of your team, some people may deserve more personalized messages. Decide who these people are and start working on their personal messages. 

Send your message: After finalizing your plans and arrangements, the next step is to send the message. You can do this via various channels, depending on the one most favored by the company. 

13 Best Happy Retirement Letter Samples

How to Write a Retirement Announcement Letter to Your Employer and Team

After ensuring all concerns have been addressed and arrangements made, the next step is to write the message. In this section of this article, we will list everything you need to know before writing your retirement announcement email

  1. Announce an official last day

Include the official last day in your email. This must be after you’ve had the discussion with your employer. In doing this, nobody is caught off guard when you eventually show up in the office. 

  1. Express gratitude for the time you spent 

One of the key ingredients in writing any message about you leaving a company or an organization is to express gratitude for the time you spent there. Express your gratitude for the experience you gained, this can be both personal and professional. 

If you had a terrible experience, you might feel some way about expressing gratitude. Regardless of your experience, your message should be professional. Your retirement email is not the place to hatch any grievance.  

  1. Highlight your success at the company

Depending on how long you worked in the company and how much success you had, this may prove to be easier said than done. But in all, you should highlight your key moment and successes at the company. You could decide to take it a step further by highlighting how much this meant to you. 

  1. Offer your time if they need it

You should offer your time and services to the company to aid the transition and make it as smooth as possible. While you may not give any specifics in your message, you should state your interest in helping the company in any way you can. 

  1. Include your contact information

When doing this, include your personal contact information and not the one you used in the company. You should also include your social channels to enable your colleagues to connect with you. 

  1. Send the letter to the appropriate bodies 

If this is a general message, you should send it to your boss or HR. This ensures you’re all on the right page before you hit send for everybody. 

How to Write a Letter of Resignation

Retirement Announcement Template One

Dear Team, 

I'm writing this letter to announce my retirement from (name of company) as a (last held position), effective (last day). 

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone for the opportunities and the invaluable experience as an employee of (name of company). Working with everyone over the last (state number of years) has been one of my greatest blessings. 

If there's anything I can do to make this transition smoother or to be of service in the future, please do not hesitate to let me know. 

Here's my personal contact information (include contact information). Please reach out to me if you'd like to keep in touch. 

Once again, thank you for the experience. I will treasure them closely as I begin this next phase.

Kind Regards, 
(Name and signature)

Retirement Announcement Letter

Hi Team, 

I'm writing to announce my retirement from Woculus as the Head of Marketing, effective 18th of January. 

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone for the opportunities and invaluable experience as an employee of Woculus. Working with everyone over the last 10 years has been one of my greatest blessings. 

If there's anything I can do to make this transition smoother or to be of service in the future, please do not hesitate to let me know. 

Here's my personal contact information 123 456 7890, help@woculus. Please reach out to me if you'd like to keep in touch. 

Once again, thank you for the experience. I will treasure them closely as I begin this next phase.
Kind Regards, 
Jason Wayne

Retirement Announcement Example

Dear Team, 

I'm writing to announce that I will officially retire from A&B Publishing as the Managing Editor. Working with the team over the last 15 years has been an absolute pleasure.

I cannot thank everyone enough for their friendship and kindness throughout my stay here. 
As I start this new phase of my life, I find solace in the fact that we built some incredible things here. Starting from the 100th NY Times bestselling author to growing the company to become the most prestigious publishing house in the state. 

My gratitude goes beyond words. If there's anything I can do to help make this transition easier or help my replacement fit in as best they can, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected] or 098 765 4321. 

Thank you. 
Sincerely, 
Carter Five 

Conclusion

We’ve included everything you need to know about writing retirement announcement emails. The level of personalization depends entirely on you and what you’re comfortable sharing. But so people do feel left out, it is advised to keep general messages as impersonalized as possible. 

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