Farewell messages for coworkers: 40 ideas for every kind of goodbye

Almost every good goodbye message to a coworker has three parts, and each part is one sentence: a thank-you for something specific, a memory you both share, and a wish for what comes next. If you have all three, you have the card. If you only have time for one, take the first.

• Thank them for something specific: not “for being a great colleague,” but “for covering for me in March.”
• Mention a memory only the two of you have: the late night before the launch, the broken printer, the coffee at seven.
• Wish them something that fits: for the new job, for parental leave, for a year of traveling.
• Keep the tone you use every day. If you’ve always joked around, the card can joke too.

Your coworker is moving on to another company. The message can sound proud, not sad.

• You’re leaving, and with you goes the best answer to “Does anyone know how this works?” Your new team is lucky.

  Copy text

• Thanks for three years in which I never sat through a meeting alone. Monday won’t be the same.

  Copy text

• Your new job just got a coworker we never would have given up on our own.

  Copy text

• You only notice how good a team was when someone leaves. We’re noticing it right now.

  Copy text

• For every coffee, every piece of advice, and every “Let’s take a quick look together”: thank you.

  Copy text

• You left your mark here, and not just in the code. In the team too.

  Copy text

• Your new coworkers have no idea what’s coming. We’re a little jealous of them.

  Copy text

• Go do it there as well as you did it here. And come to the summer party.

  Copy text

• You were the one we called when everything was on fire. Now we have to learn how to put it out ourselves.

  Copy text

• New job, new city, new coffee machine. Same energy, we know that much.

  Copy text

For the day itself, when the card gets handed over at the send-off. Short enough to read out loud.

• Today is your last day here, but not the last day we’ll think of you.

  Copy text

• Your desk is empty. Our group chat never will be.

  Copy text

• Thanks for every “We’ve got this.” You were right every time.

  Copy text

• Take care, and do it the way you did everything here: thoroughly, and with a joke for everyone.

  Copy text

• Last day, last coffee, last one-liner from you. We’ll remember that one.

  Copy text

• It wasn’t always easy, but with you it was always easier.

  Copy text

• You started here when there were five of us. You’re leaving a real team behind, and that was your work too.

  Copy text

• We’ll wave goodbye today and text you tomorrow anyway.

  Copy text

A goodbye for a while. The message can celebrate without sounding like they’re never coming back.

• You’re leaving for a while, but your spot stays yours. We’ll keep it warm.

  Copy text

• Our best project manager is taking on a new project. It’s the most important one yet.

  Copy text

• Everyone says sleep when the baby sleeps. We say come back when you’re ready.

  Copy text

• Thanks for everything so far. The team holds the fort, you hold the baby.

  Copy text

• We’re happy for you, and a little bit for us: after your leave, it’s your turn again.

  Copy text

• For the next few months: no email, no meetings, just diapers and small miracles.

  Copy text

Humor for coworkers you’ve laughed with. Always about the work you shared, never about the person.

• Starting Monday, we have to solve our own problems. We’re not sure how yet.

  Copy text

• You’re leaving a gap, a full calendar, and two plants we definitely won’t keep alive.

  Copy text

• Your last day is our first day without anyone who understands the printer.

  Copy text

• We thought about just not letting you go. HR said no.

  Copy text

• Don’t forget us. We won’t forget you, if only because of all the emails you left behind.

  Copy text

• One tip for the new job: don’t be so good that they never let you leave either.

  Copy text

• You’re leaving, the coffee machine is staying. We’re not sure which one we’ll miss more. Actually, we are.

  Copy text

For when there’s only a corner of the card left.

• Thanks for everything. See you soon.

  Copy text

• You’ll be missed. Really.

  Copy text

• Take care, and stay in touch.

  Copy text

• All the best for the next step.

  Copy text

• Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.

  Copy text

• Don’t be sad, we’ll see you at the summer party.

  Copy text

• Stay just the way you are. Just somewhere else.

  Copy text

• To your new coworkers: you’re lucky.

  Copy text

• Our door is always open.

  Copy text

Twelve people, one card, and after four messages it’s full. The coworker who works from home never signs it, and the late shift sees the card only after it’s been handed over. That’s why so many goodbye cards are just a list of names.

A shared page solves that. Everyone gets a spot of their own, writes one of the lines above or their own, adds a photo from the team day, or records twenty seconds of their voice. The link goes into the team chat, and the card is ready on the last day, including the coworkers who aren’t in the office that day.