You've signed the new offer, Thursday's one-on-one is booked, and a blank email is waiting for your resignation. How long should it be? Shorter than you think.
Treat your resignation letter as a record, not a speech. It needs today's date, your job title, the last day you'll work, one sentence of thanks and an offer to hand things over. Most good ones come in under 120 words. Trouble starts when people add more: why they're going, what went wrong, what might make them stay.
The five lines and the job each one does
Each line answers a question that HR or payroll will ask later.
| Line | Sample wording | Why it's in the letter |
|---|---|---|
| Date | October 14, 2026 | It settles when your notice started |
| Your role, plainly | "I've decided to leave my role as Senior Account Manager." | Nobody has to guess which job or which person |
| Last working day | "My last day will be Friday, November 13." | Payroll, benefits and the handover plan all depend on this date |
| Thanks, once | "I'm grateful you gave me the Chicago accounts to run." | It may be the line a future reference checker reads |
| Handover offer | "I'll write up my open projects and help train whoever takes them on." | It's what your manager will remember about how you left |
GOV.UK's page on giving notice says UK notice normally begins the day after you hand it in. With the date at the top, there's nothing to argue about.
What to keep out, and why
The letter goes into your personnel file, where people who weren't in the room will read it: HR, a future manager, maybe a lawyer.
| Leave out | What it costs you |
|---|---|
| Your reasons for going | "I've accepted another role" is enough. Anything sharper reads as a complaint once it's filed |
| Complaints about a manager or team | Feedback in an exit interview can lead to change. In the letter, it only becomes a record |
| Conditions, such as "unless my pay is reviewed" | That's an ultimatum and it'll be treated as one. Have the pay talk before the letter, not inside it |
| Your new employer, start date or salary | None of it is the old company's business |
A line like "I've accepted a role with a manager who respects my time" can still hurt you years later.
Work out your last day first
Your last day is the detail people most often get wrong. Find the notice length in your contract, then count it out before you write a word.
Say your UK contract asks for one month's notice, and you hand in the letter on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Open the notice period calculator, enter that date, press the "1 month" preset and leave calendar days selected. Counting starts the next day, so the month runs to Saturday, November 14. Since that's a weekend, the tool adds a note: your last day in the office is Friday, November 13.
Put Friday, November 13 in the letter: it's your last working day. Unsure how your contract treats weekends? Ask HR to confirm the end date in writing.
In the US, two weeks handed in on Monday, November 2, runs to Monday, November 16. If your contract counts working days, switch to Working days and list any public holidays; they're skipped like weekends.
Template 1: standard notice
Use this when you give full notice, as most people do.
[Date]
Dear [Manager's first name],
I've decided to leave [Company], and this letter is my formal notice. My last day as [Job Title] will be [Date], which gives the [two weeks / four weeks] of notice my contract asks for.
Thank you for the chance to work on [one specific project or team]. I'm taking a lot with me from it.
Between now and then I'll finish [current project], write handover notes for each open account, and help whoever picks them up get started.
Sincerely, [Your name]
Download it free: Word (.docx) or PDF. The Word file opens in Google Docs too (File, Open, Upload). No sign-up, no watermark.
Template 2: short notice
If you can't give the full period, you're asking a favor. Ask plainly, and offer something back.
[Date]
Dear [Manager's first name],
I've decided to leave my role as [Job Title], and I'd like [Date] to be my last day. That's [one week] rather than the [two weeks] in my contract, so I'm asking whether you can agree to it.
I know that's less time than usual. Before I go I'll finish [specific task], and for two weeks after I leave I'll answer questions by email.
Thank you for [one specific thing]. I've valued my time on this team.
Sincerely, [Your name]
Say sorry once, and keep personal reasons off the page. "For personal reasons" covers it.
Download it free: Word (.docx) or PDF.
Template 3: immediate, for cause
Use this one only when staying isn't an option: wages not paid, harassment, a safety risk nobody will fix. Stick to facts; a lawyer may read it someday.
[Date]
Dear [Manager's name],
I'm leaving [Company] as of today, [Date], and this letter is my resignation.
I can't work a notice period. My laptop and badge are with [person or desk], and I'll send handover notes on [project] by [Date].
Please confirm in writing when my final pay and any unused vacation will be paid.
Regards, [Your name]
There's no thank-you here on purpose; it would sound false. Leave out the story of what happened, too. Need a record of events? Write it up separately, keep it, and get advice before sending it anywhere.
Download it free: Word (.docx) or PDF.
Email or paper, and who gets it
Email suits most office jobs: it's dated, it proves delivery, and HR gets a copy. Use a subject line like "Resignation: [Your name]" and paste the letter into the body instead of attaching it.
Tell your manager first, face to face or on a call. Then send the email to them with HR copied. Nobody wants to find out from a forwarded message that someone on their team is leaving.
Print and sign a copy if your contract asks for notice in a specific form. The GOV.UK page says your contract tells you whether notice has to be written; if it doesn't ask for writing, you can resign out loud. It still suggests writing it down if you might need to point to it later, at an employment tribunal for example.
To skip the blank page, the resignation letter generator builds the letter from your name, title, company and last day. Pick a letter type, such as standard, short notice or an email version, and a tone: formal, warm or brief. It fills in the notice wording for you ("which gives two weeks' notice"), and nothing you type leaves your browser. For your own wording, try the AI email writer.
How much notice: US, UK and elsewhere
United States. Two weeks is a custom, not a legal duty. Cornell's Legal Information Institute explains at-will employment: you can quit at any time, and your employer can let you go for any reason that isn't unlawful. Montana is the one exception. There, an employer generally needs good cause to dismiss someone who has passed probation. Give two weeks anyway, since your reference may depend on it.
United Kingdom. Your contract sets the notice, and the law puts a floor under it. Once you've been in the job more than a month, you owe at least a week. Give less than your contract asks and GOV.UK warns that you may be in breach of it, and your employer could take you to court. Many salaried contracts ask for a month or more, so write the contract's number, not the legal minimum. Our guide to UK notice periods covers payment in lieu and garden leave.
Australia and Canada. Start with your contract, then check the local rules. Our guides to Australia's National Employment Standards and notice periods by Canadian province have the figures.
After you hit send
The counter-offer. Quitting is common: US employers logged 3.1 million quits in August 2026, the same as in July, says the BLS job openings report. Decide before you resign whether any pay offer would change your mind. If none would, say so kindly and close the topic. If one would, you should have asked for it before writing the letter.
The handover. Write the notes you promised in the first two days of your notice, not the last two: open tasks, where the files live, who the contacts are and what's due when.
The reference. In your final week, ask your manager straight out whether they'll be a reference. A tidy letter, a real handover and a direct question give you the best chance of a yes. Our guide on asking for a reference by email has wording for later.
FAQ
How much notice should I give in a resignation letter?
Whatever your contract says. If it says nothing and you work in the US, two weeks is the custom. In the UK the legal minimum is a week once you've worked there for a month, but most contracts ask for more, and the contract is what counts.
Do I have to give a reason in my resignation letter?
No. "I've accepted another position" is as much as anyone needs. Save the reasons for the exit interview, where they can be talked through instead of filed.
Can I resign by email?
Yes, and for most office jobs it's the best format: the email is dated and proves delivery. Tell your manager in person or on a call first, then send it and copy HR.