15 messages written for direct reports specifically, across 4 tones. Every one is ready to copy as it stands, or to adapt.
← All farewell messagesArchive started 22 August 2026 · last updated 22 August 2026
“You are leaving considerably better than you arrived, which is the entire point of the job, and I am glad I got to watch it happen. Take the new role seriously and yourself slightly less so. My door stays open.”
“You arrived not entirely sure you could do this job and are leaving as the person others come to first. I had very little to do with that, but I did get to watch. Good luck out there.”
“You outgrew this role about six months before a bigger one appeared elsewhere, and I would rather you went and did it than waited politely. Congratulations, and thank you for the notice period.”
“I hired you into a role that turned out to be quite different from the one advertised, and you made it work anyway and then made it better. Losing you is the correct outcome for you and an inconvenient one for me, which is roughly how it should feel. My reference is yours whenever you want it.”
“Thank you for your contribution during your time on the team. You took on difficult work early, raised your own standard without being asked to, and leave with the respect of everyone you worked alongside. You have my support and a reference whenever you need one.”
“Thank you for the contribution you have made during your time with the team. You leave your work in good order and your colleagues better informed than you found them, which is not always the case.”
“You are leaving with my full support and an open reference. Three years is long enough for me to say without qualification that you did what you said you would do, on the dates you said it. That is rarer than it should be.”
“I am contractually obliged to be pleased for you and, irritatingly, I actually am. You have been excellent throughout. Go and be a problem for a different manager for a while.”
“Your handover document is longer than most of our policies and considerably better written. Thank you for that, and for everything that made it necessary. Go and be excellent somewhere else.”
“I did try to keep you. I was outbid, out-argued and eventually out-manoeuvred by a job that is plainly better for you. Take the win. You have earned it, and I expect to hear that you are running the place shortly.”
“You are the first person in my career to finish a handover document before the last week, which frankly makes the rest of us look terrible. Thank you, and I hope your new team appreciates how rare that is.”
“Sorry to be losing you and pleased about where you are going, in that order. Keep in touch, and use me as a reference whenever you need one.”
“You leave this team better than you found it. Not everyone manages that.”
“This was not about your work. Use me as a reference, any time, without asking.”
“Brave move, and an overdue one by the sound of it. Go and enjoy the change.”
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