Leaving Card Messages for a Colleague — 80 Lines by Relationship (UK)

Find your message in 30 seconds

This post is organised by relationship rather than by occasion, because "leaving card" covers everything from your best work friend of five years to the person on the adjacent team whose name you finally learned two weeks ago. The message you write depends almost entirely on how well you know them.

For a very close colleague or work friend (the person who knows everything)

• Five years of [their name] making this job significantly better than it had any right to be. I'm so pleased for you and so annoyed you're leaving. Those things aren't contradictory. Please visit.
• You have been my work person — the one I tell things to, the one who tells me things, the one whose opinion I trust completely. I'm going to miss that more than I can explain in a card margin. Congratulations on what's next. Don't be a stranger.
• I'm not going to do the thing where I say "it's not goodbye, it's see you later." It's probably a bit of both, and that's fine. What I will say is that working with you has been a genuine highlight and I am so proud of where you're going. Congratulations.

For a valued team member (close but professional)

• You've been an outstanding member of this team and I mean that in the specific, evidence-based sense rather than the vague, card-message sense. The work you've done here is excellent and the place you're going is lucky to have you. Best of luck — not that you'll need it.
• Professionally, you've been one of the best colleagues I've had the good fortune to work alongside. Personally, you've been a pleasure. I hope the next role is everything it should be — which, given your ability, it will be.

For a manager leaving

• Thank you for being the kind of manager who develops people rather than just directs them. The difference matters enormously and you got it exactly right. We'll all carry what we've learned under your management for the rest of our careers. Congratulations on what's next — they're fortunate to have you.
• Leadership that is simultaneously high-standards and genuinely human is rarer than it should be. You managed both, consistently. Thank you and congratulations.

For a colleague you knew but weren't close to

• Wishing you every success in your new role — it was a real pleasure working alongside you.
• Congratulations and best of luck. I hope the new role is everything you're hoping for.
• Best wishes for your next chapter — it's been great working with you.

For someone you barely know

• Wishing you all the very best — congratulations on your next step.
• Many congratulations and best of luck in your new role.
• Best wishes! Wishing you every success.

For someone made redundant

• This wasn't the leaving you were planning, and that's genuinely unfair. But I don't think it'll take long for the right opportunity to find you — because you're too talented for it not to. Please keep in touch.
• The circumstances aren't what anyone would have chosen. But what I do know is that wherever you go next will be getting something excellent. My very best wishes.

Give every message the space it deserves

An online leaving group card from Thankeeu gives every colleague a proper space to write their message — no cramped margins, no character limits. Share one link with the team, everyone signs from wherever they're working, and it arrives on the last day with a pooled leaving gift in GBP. Create one here in two minutes.