When you are writing a letter of retirement, it is usually best to keep the tone of it professional and the format business-like. Even if you are very friendly with your manager or employer, making this letter too friendly or personal is probably not the best idea. Your retirement is a business matter, and it is important to keep personal relationships separate from the legal retirement process. Likewise, it is usually best to avoid unpleasant emotional content in your retirement letter. If, for instance, you are angry about things that have occurred in your workplace, this information should be excluded from your retirement letter.
Since your letter of retirement should be written in business format, you will need to include the name of the company, the company’s address, the name of the person to whom you are writing the letter, and the date on the top right-hand side of the letter. Unless you’ve been instructed otherwise, you can address the letter to your supervisor. You will likely need to send copies to the human resource department at your company as well.
It is also important to be specific when you are writing a letter of retirement. Instead of writing that you intend to retire during the last week of June, for example, it is usually best to write the exact date you will consider your last day of work. You may also do well to include any identifying information that you have as an employee, such as an employee identification (ID) number, your title, and the name of the department in which you work. Likewise, you should include a forwarding address in this document.
A letter of retirement also should get right to the point. You can likely narrow it down to just two to three sections, each a paragraph long. In most cases, the first section will cover your intent to retire and the last day you will serve as an employee of the company.
The second section is where you will add such details as the number of years you worked for the company, your employee ID number and title, and the department for which you worked, if applicable. You may also include information about your benefits in this section. For example, if you have opted to continue receiving medical benefits, you will likely need to include this information in this section. Additionally, you may include a forwarding address in this area.
The final paragraph is a section of the letter in which it is acceptable to write personal but positive information. For example, you may express your appreciation for management and coworkers here. While this part of your letter of retirement is not required, many people do include it.
