Retirement eCard

Write about what they were like to work with rather than what they did. Name a specific thing they taught you, a habit of theirs the team will miss, or a moment that shows the kind of colleague they were.

Close with a genuine wish for what comes next, without assuming what they plan to do with it.

Keep it short, warm and honest about the distance. Something you have observed from further away, their reputation across the department, how people talk about them, a kindness you were once on the receiving end of, is more sincere than manufactured closeness.

Two good sentences beat a forced paragraph.

Only if you know them well and the humour is already established between you. Jokes about getting old are the most common thing in these cards and often the least welcome, particularly when the retirement was not entirely their choice.

Warmth is never the wrong call; a joke sometimes is.

Build one card, sign it from the team at the sign-off step, and share the single link in whatever channel you already use. Everyone opens the same card and performs the same reveal, so it stays one shared send-off.

A recorded voice message with a few colleagues on it is a particularly good addition.

Focus entirely on them and leave the circumstances alone. If the retirement was not planned, a card that celebrates the career without speculating about why it is ending is the kindest thing you can send.

Say what they meant to the place, and make any offer to stay in touch a real one.

Send it on their last day, or the morning of it. That is when the occasion is actually felt, and when a card is most likely to be read properly rather than added to a pile.

If there is a leaving event, sending the link the same day means it can be opened while everyone is together.