How to Announce an Employee is Leaving [+Examples & Writing Tips]

Whether it be for the sake of professional progression or conflict within the workplace, there are many reasons that an employee can announce their departure from a company. It is standard practice for either the company administration or the employee to announce their resignation to the staff as a matter of courtesy and respect. Announcing that an employee is leaving allows the staff to keep updated as to who their colleagues are so that work can continue as usual after the departing colleague leaves. 

Being around the same people day in and day out, it is of little surprise that an employee announcing their resignation to staff can bring a mix of emotions to their colleagues. In addition, if the employee announcing departure was previously engaged in a project or task, slack will need to be picked up and the workload will need to be shared while the administration seeks out a new hire. 

To minimize the impact of an employee departure announcement, the HR department and employer must work hand-in-hand to find a replacement for the vacant position as soon as possible. While in-house promotions are in order, the administration should also consider whether new talent should be employed to fill the gaps!

Are one of your employees looking to further their career and take their next professional steps with another company? No problem! This article will cover everything you need to know about employee resignation announcements and provide tips, samples, and templates of exceptional employee departure announcements for your perusal!

From an employer’s perspective, it is essential to inform other staff members and notify the team of an employee’s resignation. Here are some reasons why a staff departure announcement is important:

1. Allowing time to say goodbye

Announcing an employee’s departure gives their colleagues time to arrange their farewells. Employees announcing their resignations typically do so to the administration first, meaning that their colleagues may not be aware. Announcing the employee’s resignation to the staff notifies everyone and gives them time to arrange a farewell party, write a letter, or simply wish them well as they pass them by. 

2. Preparing staff for any workload changes

After an employee announces their departure, the show must go on! Having an employee resignation announcement can kick off the proceedings to arrange the offboarding of the employee and the transfer of their workload to others in the company or department. 

3. Let employees know that a replacement is coming (or will be needed)

After an employee resignation announcement, it becomes clear to the staff that a position needs to be filled. In this case, several things can happen.

First, a staff departure announcement can signal the company’s need for a new hire. To this end, employees may seek to take advantage of the company’s referral program to source talent from people that they know are qualified for the job. This benefits the company, who gains a replacement, as well as the current employee, who will benefit financially from a successful referral!

Second, a staff departure announcement may indicate the possibility of progression within the company as the administration seeks out talent in-house. After an employee departure announcement, current employees may turn to update their CVs and send applications to be considered for a new position within the company!

4. Announcing any farewell events

Finally, as a gesture of goodwill, employers should announce staff departures so that there is time to organize a farewell event to thank the departing employee for their service to the company. These kinds of events go a long way in showing that the company cares about its employees and values the contributions that its employees make to the company.

There are two main ways that an employer/HR can announce an employee’s departure to other staff members.

1. During a company meeting/event

For larger companies, announcing a staff departure is best done through a company meeting or event. Typically, employee departure announcements are made to the employee’s team or department, rather than the whole company. This is simply because the employee’s departure will only affect their immediate colleagues and not the whole company. 

Here are some dos and don’ts to announcing an employee’s departure in this manner.

2. Via email

Employers also have the option of announcing an employee’s departure via email. In this case, employers should follow the same rules of the previous section, and consider the tone of the email carefully. Depending on the office culture, employers will need to choose between a formal or casual tone when announcing an employee’s departure from the company.

In this section, we will explain the various sections to be included in an employee departure email.

Use a clear email subject

Begin your employee departure announcement with an appropriate subject line. As previously mentioned, the tone of your employee resignation announcement should factor into the office culture. 

Here are some subject lines that are suitable for announcing an employee’s departure in different email tones.

Announce the news to relevant parties

Consider the team/department that the departing employee is a part of. When announcing an employee’s departure in a smaller or close-knit company, a company-wide email is appropriate. However, if you are a part of a large organization, the email list for the employee resignation announcement should be limited to those who work with or are associated with the departing employee. 

Be direct

Get to the point. Your employee resignation announcement should not beat around the bush or inflate the contents of the email with unnecessary information. An employee resignation announcement is not complicated. To this end, endeavor to balance transparency and keep your employees on a need-to-know basis.

State when their last day would be

One of the most critical points to include in an employee resignation announcement is stating the last day of their contractual obligation to the company. This is for a few reasons, including letting the staff know when the last day to see their colleague is, as well as notifying the relevant employees when they will need to assume the workload of their departing colleague. 

For the sake of brevity and conciseness of your employee departure announcement, it is generally a good idea to include the date of their departure in the first paragraph of your email!

Briefly explain the reason for the departure (if appropriate)

When appropriate and for the sake of transparency, your employee resignation announcement can also include (limited) information regarding the reason for the employee’s departure. This presents a clear-cut reason for the employee departure announcement and prevents the spread of unwanted and unneeded “office gossip” and the extrapolation of events that are unrelated to each other.

Tell employees what the next steps are

The next point to address in an employee departure announcement is to indicate the next steps to be taken following the departure of the employee in question. This varies depending on the company, but the typical moves are either to source new talent to fill the void left by the departing employee or to redistribute and reallocate their workload so that the workflow can continue as normal. Whatever the reason, your employee resignation announcement should clearly state it to avoid potential misunderstandings.

Inform any farewell events

As a gesture of appreciation for service, many companies arrange complementary events following the announcement of an employee’s departure. Whether it be a formal company event or an informal meeting of colleagues in a bar, your employee departure announcement should indicate these plans. The details of the event should be fully hashed out before writing the employee departure announcement so that they can be fully included in the email. This includes, most importantly, the time and location of the event. 

Show appreciation towards the departing employee

Finally, close off your employee resignation announcement by publicly thanking the departing colleague for their years of service to the company. This shows the care the company has for its employees and goes a long way in showing current employees that they are respected and valued in the company.

Now that you understand what goes into an employee resignation announcement, let’s put it into practice. Here is a complete template of an email announcing an employee's departure.

Let's close off with a couple of employee departure announcement email samples.

Executive Departure Announcement Sample

Sample Announcement of Employee Leaving Company to Clients

--- Originally written by Alexander Coye ---