Letters of farewell will generally fall under the category of business correspondence since we rarely use a letter to say farewell to a close friend or relative.
Letters of farewell are relatively easy to write and examples abound of well-worded farewell letters for almost any situation.
The purpose of a farewell letter is to wish someone luck in a new endeavor and to assure the person that they will be missed since, by its very nature, a letter of farewell generally means that the new endeavor will be embarked on in another geographical area of the world.
Letters of farewell, especially those to business colleagues, should be upbeat affairs and should stay away from overly emotional platitudes. Let the recipient know that many people will miss them and wish them nothing but the best in their new endeavors. You may even wish to express a hint of envy if the geographical area is particularly pleasant, such as relocation to the company’s Honolulu office.
The other type of farewell letter is the one we send when it is we who are leaving for new adventures. We may wish to send a letter to our colleagues at the office expressing how great it was working with them, telling them we will miss them as we move on to the next stage in our professional lives. Such a letter generates good will among colleagues who may possibly be jealous about an opportunity we have been given and whose help we may one day need to call on. They may more likely provide that help if we humbly thank them for the help they provided in the past and for the pleasure of their professional association.
Since we do not write that many letters of farewell, it might be best to seek reference materials on the subject, including example letters. Once we send one out, we may wish to keep a copy in our permanent files. These letters are standard and can often be reused with slight changes, especially since it may have been years since the original letter was sent.
As with all letters going to business colleagues, we want to maintain a professional yet friendly tone throughout the letter. We also want to try our best to ensure the letter is free of any type of error by using state-of-the-art grammar software on the letter before sending it out.