Farewell email to your team
Your last day is set. Thank people by name, keep what's next to one line, and leave the personal address your work account won't forward.
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SubjectSaying goodbye — my last day is Friday 18 September
How to use it well
- →Thank people for specific things, not "everyone" in general — a shared inbox reads it once, so make at least a few names or moments recognizable.
- →One line on where you're headed is plenty; a farewell email is not the venue for a new job announcement in full.
- →Send your personal contact info in the email itself — once your account is deactivated, this is the only copy some colleagues will have.
Part by part
- Saying goodbye — my last day is {{last_day}}
- The date in the subject, because the practical information is what most readers need. Everything else in the message is optional to them and not to you.
- you can reach me at {{personal_contact}}
- A contact route that survives the account being disabled. Without it the message is a goodbye rather than a way to stay in touch.
- Thank you for {{years}} of {{memory}}
- Something specific rather than a general fondness. A concrete memory is what makes a farewell read as yours rather than as a template.
Common mistakes
Today is my last day. It's been great. Bye!No contact details, so every relationship built over years ends with the account. The one genuinely useful thing a farewell email does is left out.
Using it to settle scores.It circulates further than any other message you will send, gets screenshotted, and is remembered long after the grievance. Whatever is true, this is not the channel.
Sending it after the account is closed.Send it a day or two before, not on the final afternoon. People want a chance to reply, and a message that arrives as you leave gets no responses at all.
Questions
Should I say where I am going?
Usually a sentence is fine and friendly. Skip it if the destination is sensitive — a competitor, or somewhere not yet announced — since a farewell email is effectively public.
Who should receive it?
The people you actually worked with. A company-wide send at a large organisation mostly reaches people who do not know you, and the message reads as broadcast rather than personal.
When should it go out?
A day or two before your last day, so replies arrive while you can still read them. On the final afternoon it lands as you lose access, and the conversations never happen.
How honest should I be about why I am leaving?
Brief and neutral. The farewell email is not the exit interview, and anything critical in it will be remembered as the last thing you said rather than as the fair point it might have been.