Internal statement announcing employee’s departure

Use our statement to make an internal announcement to other members of staff that an employee is leaving, or has left, your employment.

Communication of departure

When an employee leaves your employment, you can use our Letter Advising Employee Has Left to let external third parties, such as your clients and customers, know of their departure. However, what about notifying the employee’s own work colleagues? Under the terms of your Resignation Policy, you may have provided that an employee should keep their resignation confidential until you’ve agreed the terms of the official company statement with them. Even if you haven’t and you’re happy for the employee to tell other staff they’re leaving, it’s often advisable to put out a simple internal company statement to avoid gossip.

Internal company statement

Our Internal Statement Announcing Employee’s Departure covers three scenarios, and it can be used whether the employee has resigned or been dismissed:

1. The employee is currently working out their notice period with a leaving date in the future - in this scenario, our statement simply states this fact and the employee’s leaving date and then optionally provides that you’ll either be advertising for a replacement or rearranging work to take account of their departure.
2. The employee is currently on garden leave with a leaving date in the future - here, staff are additionally advised not to discuss work-related matters with the employee during their garden leave (this is particularly important if the employee is leaving to set up in competition or is going to work for a competitor, as you don’t want them trying to steal your business or poach your staff). It also advises colleagues that, as a result of the employee’s garden leave, they may be asked to cover some extra work at short notice.
3. The employee has already left because they didn’t, or weren’t required to, work out their notice period - in this situation, there’s again the additional request that staff may now be asked to cover some extra work as a result of the employee’s sudden departure.

Whilst we’ve also given basic optional wording you can use in each case where the employee has resigned, we haven’t done this where they’ve been dismissed. You need to ensure an employee’s confidentiality so you shouldn’t be discussing their dismissal, or the circumstances surrounding it, with other staff, as it’s none of their business. So, don’t be tempted to go into the reasons why the employee is leaving in your statement.

Excessive hours/workloads

Be careful about asking employees either to work excessive hours to cover a departing employee’s workload during a transitional period or asking them to take over an excessive workload permanently from a departing employee. You not only need to ensure you comply with the requirements of the Working Time Regulations 1998 relating to working hours and rest periods/rest breaks, you also need to ensure you’re taking care of the employee’s health, safety and welfare and this includes making sure they’re not being over-worked.