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What to write in a farewell card for a coworker

October 5, 2026

A leaving card fills up fast with "Good luck!" and "All the best!", and by the time it reaches you there's a small gap between two signatures and five minutes before it has to move on.

One real detail is enough to do better. Here's a formula that works for almost anyone, then messages for each kind of colleague.

The three-part formula

Write one sentence for each, in this order:

  1. A memory. One thing that happened, as specifically as you can: the launch that went sideways, the Friday they covered for you, the way they answered the phone.
  2. What you'll miss. Something they did that nobody else does.
  3. A wish. For the new job, the move, or whatever comes next.

Put together, that sounds like this:

I'll never forget you talking the client down during the March launch while the rest of us hid. I'm going to miss your Monday playlists more than I'll admit. Go show the new place how it's done.

Three sentences, and they'll know exactly who wrote it. If you only have room for one, keep the memory.

For a coworker leaving for a new job

  1. Your new team has no idea how lucky they are. Congratulations on the new role.
  2. Thank you for making this place better every day you were here. They're getting a good one.
  3. It won't be the same without you, but I'm so glad you're going for it.
  4. You taught me more than you know. Good luck in the new job, not that you'll need it.
  5. Wherever you go next, I hope the coffee is better and the meetings are shorter.
  6. So proud of you for taking the leap. Keep in touch and tell us everything.
  7. Your next chapter is lucky to have you. Thank you for this one.
  8. We'll miss your ideas, your calm and your terrible puns. Go get them.

For your boss or manager

  1. Thank you for backing me when it counted. I learned a lot from working for you.
  2. You made this team a place people wanted to stay. Your next team is lucky.
  3. Thanks for the honest feedback, the patience, and the times you took the blame for us.
  4. I'll be borrowing your way of running a meeting for the rest of my career.
  5. You believed in me before I did. Thank you, and good luck.
  6. The bar you set isn't going anywhere, even if you are.

For a close work friend

  1. Who am I going to complain to at 4:55 on a Friday now? I'll miss you.
  2. You were the best part of coming in. This isn't goodbye, it's a change of lunch spot.
  3. Thanks for every coffee, every vent session and every "you've got this".
  4. You made the hard weeks bearable and the good ones better. Don't be a stranger.
  5. I'm happy for you and sad for me. Drinks soon, and you're buying with that new salary.
  6. Same time next week, just not at this desk. Congratulations, friend.
  7. I won't say goodbye, because I'm texting you on Monday.

For someone you didn't work with much

Short and warm is fine. Don't pretend to a closeness you didn't have.

  1. Wishing you every success in your next role.
  2. It was good working with you. All the best for what's next.
  3. Thank you for your help this year. Good luck!
  4. Best of luck with the move and the new job.
  5. Sorry we didn't get to work together more. Wishing you the best.
  6. Congratulations on the new role. You'll be missed around here.

Funny farewell messages

  1. Congratulations on escaping. Please send help.
  2. I'm not saying you were the only one who knew how the printer worked, but we're doomed.
  3. Leaving us? Fine. But the good stapler stays.
  4. Good luck at the new place. Pretend to be surprised by their reply-all emails too.
  5. We've decided to forgive you for leaving. Mostly.
  6. Your desk plant is now in witness protection. Don't try to contact it.
  7. You leaving is the most exciting thing to happen in this office since the new microwave.
  8. Remember us when you're famous. Or at least when you're hiring.
  9. Who's going to drink the last of the coffee and not make more now?

What to avoid

Or say it out loud

Most people know what they'd say about a colleague. It's writing it neatly in a small space in five minutes that's hard. Asked for one memory out loud, they tell the actual story.

That's how Story Den's online farewell card works. You post one link in the team chat. Everyone spends two minutes telling a memory out loud, Athena, the interviewer, asks a follow-up or two, and each memory becomes an illustrated card with the person's voice message. The person leaving gets one link with all of it, to keep. It's $19 for up to 8 people, and nobody needs an app.

Someone retiring instead? What to write in a retirement card for a coworker