A retirement letter is a formal correspondence used to inform your employer on that you are leaving due to retirement. You need to use your home address or a headed notepaper, when you have one. You should write to your immediate superiors and prepare a copy for the personnel department. Be sure to check your contract employment as some contains stipulations on retirement process. In the U.K., retirement letters are part of the provisions of the Age Discrimination Regulations of 2006. It specifically indicated the date on which a retirement letter should be submitted with corresponding rules on how the employer should respond and in the instance that you would want to extend your retirement period.

 

            A retirement letter should contain your name, address (with city, state, and zip code), your phone number, and your email address, if you have one. This is followed by the date of submission, then information on the letter’s recipient. Indicate his name, title, name of organization and its address (with city, state, and zip code). The body of letter follows the salutations. You should indicated the effective date of your retirement along with your length of service. Do express short yet sincere words of gratitude and pleasure at having to work at the institution. Some letters even mention information on retirement parties. After another salutation, end your retirement letter with your full name with affixed signature.

           

            For those who had forgotten the art of letter writing, a lot of resources can be found in the Internet, there are even downloadable programs for it. Some web sites even offer different templates that would suite your taste and situation.

 

            In some instances, your employer will also send you congratulatory letter and provide information on your pension benefits. They may even inform you on procedures on claiming your pension, with the forms needed to be filled up.

 

            Do not ever underestimate the value of your retirement letter. Though in most cases, your employer is well aware ahead of time of your impending retirement, you must submit your retirement letter to formally initiate the process. This document also supports whatever paper works you would need to do before you can completely go on with your retirement and enjoy whatever retirement benefits awaiting you. Retirement letters lend formality to the period of employment and service you rendered to your institution. If you wish, you can circulate a copy of your retirement letter to other personnel in your work place to inform them of your impending departure and most would try to send back congratulatory notes.