Retirement Appreciation Letter to Employee

As more and more baby boomers approach their mid-60s, larger numbers are retiring. It is a nice gesture to send or deliver a retirement appreciation letter to an employee, especially one who has worked with the company for many years. Many companies also give retiring employees gifts, like watches, silver platters or other keepsakes, and some companies have a party or a dinner to recognize retiring employees and celebrate their careers.

Format and Content

It typically means a lot to an employee to have a CEO, company president, chairman or other individual in top management recognize him or her and express gratitude for years of dedication and loyalty. A retirement appreciation letter to an employee format should mention the number of years the employee has been with the company, departments in which the employee has worked, successes in which the employee has played a significant and other career milestones.

Sample

The company president who is writing this retirement appreciation letter to an employee sample will be reading the letter at a dinner recognizing the individual for 30 years of service. The employee began on the loading dock, progressed through the ranks and was Vice President of Corporate Compliance upon retirement.

Dear Andrew,

Although I wish you the very best as you retire from ABC Logistics and move on to a new chapter in your life of travel, relaxation and time with grandchildren, your departure will leave a huge void that will be extremely difficult to fill. There is no way to replace your 30 years of experience, your rapport with the employees and your unique and innovative methods of dealing with the challenges in our industry.

It is an honor to have known you all of these years. When you began your career with ABC Logistics, the company only had 15 employees, and my father, Eric Johnson, was the president. He always spoke very highly of you, and respected your opinion in all areas of the business. Beginning your career on the loading dock as a young man, your hard work and dedication helped you advance very quickly up the career ladder.

There are no employees at ABC Logistics who have worked in as many different departments as you. After the loading dock, you moved into the shipping department where you became a supervisor. The next few years you did a fantastic job as our warehouse manager, and then you moved on to inside sales and eventually outside sales where you set several records that still remain unbroken today.

You have been an exceptionally valuable asset in the corporate compliance department this last decade. As government intervention into business functions continues to escalate, it is vital that we have an expert heading up our corporate compliance area, and that is exactly what you have done. In addition, you have done an excellent job of training others to take over running the department and keeping the company compliant with all federal and state regulations. There are no words I can use to adequately express my gratitude. I hope you know how much I appreciate your 30 years of stellar work at ABC Industries.

Sincerely,

Mark Johnson

Mark D. Johnson