Congratulations! You have successfully completed your career journey and reached the point where you are comfortable stepping back from the day-to-day grind and enjoying a well-earned retirement. After the emotional rollercoaster ride and careful financial planning, the next step is to inform your employer of your decision.
Much like you would submit a letter of resignation when you intend to leave a job, your retirement letter is a piece of formal correspondence notifying your employer that you will be stepping down from your role with the company. Of course, there are several important differences between the two letters to keep in mind as you craft your retirement letter.
When you are resigning from your job for reasons other than retirement, you are going to keep working, just for a different organization. This can be because you are moving to a new location, you've found a better opportunity elsewhere, or you simply don't enjoy your current work. While you should be polite and professional in your written correspondence in any case, the tone and impact of your retirement letter can be quite different.
For one thing, you can feel free to give more notice of your retirement plans. This allows your organization ample time to leverage your experience and institutional knowledge in setting up a succession plan. When you are resigning to work for a competing company or because of a poor working relationship with your supervisor, while it is still custom to provide at least a few weeks' notice, they are more likely to usher you out the door sooner.
How to formally notify your employer that you plan to retire
Write an actual letter. Whether you submit this document to your employer electronically or printed on paper can depend on the nature of your relationship and the culture of your organization, but either way, you should write a traditional formal letter. This is a legacy piece for your employment file. You want to leave an eloquent, gracious, and professional record.
Express your appreciation. Let your employer know that you are grateful for the opportunities you have had with the company, the people you have worked with, and the things you have learned along the way. Even if you are fed up and just ready to call it quits, your retirement letter isn't the place to air grievances or settle scores. It is your chance to end a long career on a high note. Be gracious.
Give plenty of notice. You don't want to leave your former colleagues in the lurch after your departure. The longer you have been with a company, the more knowledge you likely have about how things operate and who the key contacts are. People's own specific jobs often adapt and change to match their individual strengths and interests over time. The more senior a staff member is, the more difficult it usually is to replace them.
As we mentioned earlier, because you are not jumping ship for the competition, your employer will appreciate the breathing room provided by ample notice of your intention to step down. This gives them time to plan for your succession, whether it's another individual stepping into your role or your responsibilities being reassigned through a departmental shakeup.
Offer to help with the transition in any way that you can such as by documenting your specific projects and procedures, training others on your role, or acting as a mentor for potential successors.
Time it carefully. When giving your notice, keep in mind the time that you actually want to leave and what you want your final weeks or months on the job to be like. If there is a particular project or event that you want to continue being a part of, you may want to hold off announcing your plans until that initiative has been successfully concluded. There is always the chance that once you announce your retirement, you could be considered a 'lame duck' employee and be invited to fewer planning meetings and left out of the loop on big decisions. You don't want to close out your time with a company feeling unappreciated or cut off. See your big projects through, and then give notice that you are calling it a career.
Consider leaving the door open. Your industry experience in general and your knowledge of the organization in particular can make you a valuable asset to the company that they may not want to lose completely. When announcing your retirement, decide if you want to mention the possibility of staying connected in a consultancy, part-time, or project-based capacity. Continuing to contribute, keeping in touch with colleagues, and having some added revenue coming in can all help ease the transition from being employed full-time to retirement.
Share your availability. Whether or not you are going to continue a professional relationship with the company after your retirement, they may need to get in touch with you after your last day. This could be to reach out with an offer, or for help with a question only you can answer, or they might simply have some documents you need to sign. Leave your personal contact information with the employer, so that they know how to contact you, and inform them if you will be unavailable for a period of time. For example, tell them if you're taking a cross-country road trip to visit grandkids or taking that long-delayed dream vacation. Fill your employer in on when you are leaving and when they might be able to reach you again.
Put together, it should look something like this.
Sample Retirement Letter
Joe Candidate
VP Marketing
ACME Co.
Mario Bossly
President, ACME Co.
Montreal, QC
Hello Mario,
I am writing to let you know that I plan to take my retirement from ACME Co. on [DATE].
I have appreciated my time here, from when you gave me that first opportunity on the marketing team, and through all of the things we have accomplished together since. Your promoting me to Vice President was one of the proudest moments of my professional career.
Please let me know if there is anything you need from me over the next few months to help with the transition and prepare the Marketing team for its new leader. I will be traveling through much of the summer, but I will be back in Montreal in September. You can reach me at my personal email and phone number below.
I have a great deal of affection for ACME Co., and I would be happy to contribute to the company's further success in a freelance or consultant capacity should you find that you can use my experience moving forward. Just let me know.
Thank you very much for the opportunities, the confidence you placed in me, and the memories!
Best regards,
Joe
Joe Candidate
Personal email address
Personal phone number
