Retirement Announcement Letter

Some tips on writing letters in various different contexts.

• Retirement is not a spur-of-the-moment decision so this should be a spur-of-the-moment letter. You obviously need to take quite a lot of trouble over it and you won’t write it until you’ve had probably several meetings with your line manager the head of HR or whoever it is that you have to sort these things out.
• So the first thing you’ve got to clarify and that needs to be in your letter is the terms of your retirement. Obviously, you will have 
  • • calculated the sum that’s owed to you
    • you may have a lump sum
    • there may be an annuity
    • there may be some sort of cash settlement
    • some financial settlement.

There’s then there’s going to be 

• • • the matter of pension
    • there may be health insurance
    • there may be all sorts of other benefits.

You’ll know what they are. Make sure you put them all in your retirement letter.

• Now the second thing you’ll probably want to address is the reasons for your retirement. Actually, the reasons don’t matter 
  • • You may be retiring earlier than you would like. 
    • They may have asked you to retire
    • Well you may be retiring early because you’re glad to get out of that
    • Don’t go into the reasons 

• This is a letter of resignation. This is where you must remember not to burn your bridges even if you think now that you’re just glad to get out of that place. Wild horses wouldn’t drag you back, you may feel differently in a year’s time, a lot of people do. 
• A lot of people take retirement and then because they were very useful in their role, they’re called upon perhaps a year later. 
  • • You may find that useful. 
    • You don’t you’re entering uncharted territory whose retirement. 
    • You don’t know how you’re going handle it so keep your options open.
    • Don’t go into the reasons for your retirement.

• The thing you want to do is 
  • • Recap on your time there 
    • look back fondly 
    • picks and highlights 
    • talk about some of the people you’ve enjoyed working with 

• You don’t have to write a lot 
  • • but you want to write something that says 
    • my time with the organization was worthwhile 
    • these were some of the features of it

• Then at the end
  • • you want to look forward 
    • you want to wish the organization well and your colleagues 
    • you want to look forward for yourself too
    • whatever it is tending your flowerbeds 
    • fishing whatever your next project 

• So that’s the way to finish and you want to leave that warm feeling behind because you never know when you might run into those people again or when they might want you back and you might suddenly see you.