HR letter format: 30 most important you need to Download (free)

On any given day, as an HR manager, you probably write an HR letter and think, it’s not that big a deal. But when you have to write many many letters and respond to multiple emails at once, it can get taxing! As an HR manager, you already have so much on your plate. Right from planning, directing and coordinating the administrative tasks of the company, to working on improving employee engagement and performance their job seems endless!

So here, in this blog, we have made put together a complete list of all the HR letters and alone with downloadable templated for each of them. With these templates, all you have to do is tweak them based on your needs, and you’re ready to roll.

I will cover the list of the 30 most important HR letters along with when and how to use them. We have also added downloadable templates for all 30 of these letters.

Feel free to click on the name and jump to the template you wish to download from the list mentioned here!

What is an HR Letter
Why is it so important to have ready to use HR mail samples in place?
HR letter format
What are the types of HR Letters?
How can an HRMS help in this entire process?
Conclusion
FAQs

What is an HR Letter?

Earlier we spoke about documents that an employer has to send their employees from time to time. But what exactly are these letters?

During an employee’s life cycle in any company, they interact with a department called ‘Human Resources’ very very often. Be it when the employee was offered the job, during the onboarding process, during a performance review, the list can go on and on!

What’s important to notice here is that during all of these interactions, the HR employee gives out many letters. Formal letters that the employee and the company will keep as records.

Which letters you might ask? Job offer letters, welcome letters, performance appraisal letters etc. Again, the list goes on and on! And it is extremely tedious for HR employees to sit and write new letters every time they have to offer a new candidate a job or someone resigns from the company.

So that brings us to the next, very important question…

Why is it so important to have ready to use Human Resources Mail samples in place?

We’ve just seen that HR employees and managers write so so many letters at different stages of the employee life cycle. And writing each of these is extremely monotonous.

So, if you have a fixed template in place for every time an employee’s probation is extended or for every time someone gets a promotion, you’ll have saved so much time and energy for yourself. They basically help you

Save time and money
Streamline your process of sending out letters
Ensure uniformity across the board

Top 30 must-have HR letter formats and templates!!

So how many of these HR mail templates did you know existed?

Ahh, you got me there. There are 30, as mentioned in the title!

So let’s dive right in and see what these 30 letters are! You may also download each HR Mail Template

1. Annual bonus

Getting a bonus is such a happy occasion. And when an employee opens that letter from you, their HR manager about that bonus, they should feel the excitement!

Bonuses are usually given out annually and to all employees, irrespective of their designation or level. The main aim of this financial year-end bonus is to motivate employees and also appreciate them for the work they do.

An annual bonus letter is a notification given to an employee by HR. This letter basically talks about the bonus the employee has received, how much it is and by when they’ll receive it. The language and tone of the letter should be extremely happy. After all, the employee has worked hard to earn that bonus.

Click here to download the annual bonus letter – hr letter template!

2. Appointment letter/ Employment contract

An employment contract usually goes out alongside a job offer letter. It carries all the details of the job, including job role, working hours, job location, salary/compensation and so on. As a result, appointment letters are also often referred to as employment contracts.

A badly written appointment can lead to the candidate starting the journey with your company on the wrong foot right from the get-go. It should be formal and is often one of the first things a candidate sees on behalf of the company before they join. So, it is imperative that this has all the accurate information.

What is the difference between an appointment and an offer letter?

While a lot of people confuse the 2, there are differences. An offer letter is simply a job offer made to a candidate who is part of the selection process. Whereas, an appointment letter gives a lot more detail and information about the job. This would include things like salary, working hours, day-to-day tasks and responsibilities, etc.

In short, the job offer letter focuses on offering the candidate the job, and the appointment letter is in a way proof that states details about the job.

3. Appraisal letter

Employee performance appraisals can mean a lot of work for HR managers. Image writing out separate letters to all your employees as you send our performance review reports! That’s extremely tedious! Good thing you have the template!

An appraisal letter is sent out to employees after the performance appraisal exercises are done. It usually has an attachment which is the appraisal report.

4. Appreciation letter

Every now and again, sending an appreciation letter (a genuine one) is a great way to stay connected with your employees and let them know you care for the work they do.

This basically includes talking about a recent project an employee worked on, maybe being a little specific about their contribution towards their project and how they (hopefully) did an amazing job! You should also thank the employee for their contribution to the organization. This is a very efficient way to keep employees engaged.

But one very important thing to remember here is to be genuine and not go overboard with adjectives. While receiving an appreciation letter is great, reading a fake one where your boss or manager doesn’t mean what they have written is simply the worst.

5. Approval letter

As an HR employee or manager, you probably get a bajillion requests all the time for various things. If you had a templatized format that you could simply customize based on the situation, wouldn’t that make life so much easier? A template for this will help you save time and energy.

An approval letter should clearly state that the request initially made has been approved. If there are any specific reasons as to why the request was approved, then that should be included here as well.

6. Authorization letters

It basically as the name suggests, authorizes someone else, to carry out a particular task.

Say, for example, an HR employee was responsible for picking up a set of documents on a particular day. But they fell sick that day. In such a situation, the HR employee authorizes another employee or person to collect these documents on their behalf.

7. HR Letter – Confirmation of employment

This is written to an employee who is on probation, but their probation period is over and now they’re being converted to a full-time permanent employee of the company.

What is a probation period?

When a new employee is hired, and the manager wants to see how well this employee works, they are hired on probation. During this time, the employee is judged based on their ability to do the job, character, ability to get along with the rest of the team etc. And finally, based on how they perform on the job, a decision is made on whether to hire the employee or not. The probation period is usually for a few months.

8. Demotion letter (for Reduction in rank)

There’s never a nice way to deliver bad news. But the way in which you deliver the bad news plays a huge role in how the other person receives it.

Why are employees demoted?

For many reasons that could include bad behaviour, unsatisfactory performance on the job or not being able to keep up with their peers despite multiple training programs. However, it is important to note that before you send a demotion letter to the employee, you give them a few warnings (we’ll come to that later, or click here to jump to the section on warning letters!) It is only fair for a person to receive a warning, and be given a chance to rectify their poor performance before a drastic measure like this is taken.

But when an employee’s rank is being reduced, they are sent a demotion (also referred to as a reduction in rank) letter. It contains the new role of the employee, why the demotion is taking place, who their new manager or supervisor will be and when will the demotion be in effect from.

9. HR Letter – Employee recognition

Earlier we looked at employee appreciation letters. And while that is important, employee recognition too, is extremely important. Employee recognition usually happens as a part of the performance management cycle, after the appraisal exercises take place.

The top-performing employees need to be recognised for their job and receive rewards. This letter basically thanks the employees for all their hard work and dedication and mentions the reward they will receive as a result!

Click here to download the employee recognition sample template for FREE now!!

10. HR Letter – Employment verification

Employment verification is very often also referred to as proof of employment.

What does this mean though?

Very often employees need to produce some sort of proof or verification that they work at a particular company. This could be needed to send to landlords, financial institutes, educational institutes (in case of employees seeking admission) and so on. So here, the HR manager writes to whoever is concerned about this data. This letter ideally includes,

Employee name
Employee’s designation in the company
Date of joining
Date of leaving the job (If pre-decided, like in the case of contract employees)
Salary of the employee (if needed)
A brief summary of the employee’s job description

Click here to download the employee verification letter for FREE

11. HR Letter – Job experience

Whenever an employee decides to shift jobs, there is a list of documents they must have ready with them. And this is one of those things.

Either a current employee looking to switch jobs or a former employee may ask you to write them an experience letter. It is basically a formal letter that includes details about the employee’s job (from when they worked in your company).

What should an experience letter include?

It should include the following information,

Employee name
Employee’s designation in the company
Date of joining
Date of leaving the job (If pre-decided, like in the case of contract employees)
A brief summary of the employee’s job description i.e. a list of the duties and day to day responsibilities
A positive statement about the employee to conclude
Your contact information so that whoever receives the document may get in touch with you in case of queries or questions

12. HR Letter – Internship completion letter

This is very similar to the experience letter, both in terms of what has you should include as well as the tonality of the letter. The only difference is, here you’re writing about an employee completing an internship rather than a full-time employee who probably worked with you for a long time.

So, you include things such as the intern’s name, duration of the internship, a brief summary of the intern’s job description and a positive statement about the intern. To conclude, add your contact information so that whoever receives the document may get in touch with you in case of queries or questions.

13. Internship offer letter

You make and hand out this letter to the candidate you select for an internship at your company. It works as a formal agreement between you and the inter. An internship offer letter contains all the details about the internship, such as stipend, working hours, working days of the week, duration of the internship, documents required for submission prior to commencement and so on.

Click here to download the internship offer letter template now!

14. Interview call letter

Selection processes in various companies have many many rounds. And this is letter is used when a candidate needs to be informed that they have been selected for the interview round (which in most cases is the final round).

It should include information about the interview such as date, time, venue (online or offline) and relevant documentation that the candidate needs to carry with them for the interview. Some people also inform the candidate who the interviewer will be. You should also include information about any prior prep the candidate needs to do (if needed) here.

15. Invitation letter

Corporates have a variety of events throughout the year. And it goes without saying, each of these events need invitations. A few things an invitation letter must include,

Reason for conducting the event
Event location
Date and time for the event
RSVP date and whom to RSVP to
Dress code (if any)

16. HR Letter – NDA (non-disclosure agreement) or Confidentiality clause

An NDA is a legally binding contract between two parties – the employer and the employee joining the company. In simpler words, it states all the conditions and rules based on which the employee is being taken on into the company. Based on the agreement, which is mutual, the employee cannot share any confidential information with any outsider of the company.

Hence, the employer can share information freely with the employee without being worried about details leaking to any competitors.

17. New employee welcome letter

Joining a new company is always exciting (can be a little scary too!). The experience can be made so much nicer if you receive a warm welcome from the company and other employees. This starts with a welcome letter for the employee. Firstly, this letter does just that, welcomes the employee to make them feel at home in a new place.

Secondly, it must include all the information that the new employee will need on their first day of work, such as where to collect their laptop, where their new desk will be, who they need to reach out to if they have any questions and so on. You could also check out our blog on “Employee onboarding!”

18. HR Letter – Job offer

A job offer letter is a formal document that HR sends to candidates who have been selected for a job. It lets the candidate know details such as job role, department and date of joining the company. An offer letter should also inform the candidate of the last day before which they need to formally accept the job offer. This is something a lot of job offer letters miss out on but it’s extremely important!

If the candidate’s selection was based on certain conditions, they too should be called out here.

Say, for example, if your company recruits from an undergraduate university, and students are selected 3 months before they graduate. You want to ensure that these students you select don’t slack out just because they have a job offer. So, you mention, a minimum grade below which the offer stands cancelled.

19. Organizational wide announcement for a new employee joining

Imagine.

You’ve got a new job that you’re all excited about.

You get up early that morning and put in some effort in getting ready. To make sure you reach before time you catch an earlier bus. You reach your new office and you somehow manage to get control of your excitement. You enter and no one knows who you are. Suddenly your excitement turns into frustration and you’re wondering if this company was the right choice!

Demotivating isn’t it?

This entire problem could have been avoided if HR has just sent out a mail to everyone informing them in advance about a new employee. So needless to say, this letter is very very important.

20. Probation extension letter

As the name suggests, you should use this letter to inform employees who are on probation that their probation period has been extended. You should also mention the reason for the extension of the probation period and set goals for the employee to improve, grow and work better.

21. Promotion letter

A promotion letter is a formal form of communication used to inform an employee that they are being given a promotion. It usually includes things such as a salary hike, a new role along with a job description, a new manager, etc. Promotions are a great way to reward employees while also motivating them to do better in a new role and salary increment.

22. HR Letter – Recommendation letter

Writing a recommendation letter for someone is a big responsibility. You basically have to endorse their abilities, so obviously, you need to know the person well. When you write a great recommendation, it can drastically improve a candidate’s ability to get picked for a job. You should include,

Brief description of who you are and how you know the candidate
Brief description about the time they worked in your company
Candidate’s strengths and weaknesses
Why do you think the person is a good fit for the job. Be specific and give examples

A letter of recommendation is a formal email and ultimately aids the hiring manager is deciding if the candidate is good for the role or not. Hence it becomes important that more than describing how amazing the candidate is, you give an honest review about their ability to do the job.

Download the template for the recommendation letter now!!

23. Rejection letter

Now, this is an important one. Why? Because this is often thought of as redundant. “Oh if the candidate doesn’t hear from us, they’ll know they haven’t been selected!!”

But what about the time the candidate loses while they are waiting for you to reply? They could have been applying for another job then. This is why this letter is necessary.

It should be formal, letting the candidate know they have not been selected. If there are only a few candidates, you could provide feedback, or let them know they can get in touch with you if they want feedback.

24. Request denial letter

Just like we spoke about a request approval letter, we have on for request denial as well. This one should ideally be a little more detailed because it should also include why the request is being denied.

25. Resignation acceptance, also known as relieving letter

We’ve all heard of a resignation letter. But what’s a resignation acceptance letter?

When an employee comes to you telling you they want to quit, you don’t just say “Yeah, sure ok I’ll get the process started!”

You are required to draft a formal document telling the employee that you accept the resignation, hence the ‘resignation acceptance letter’. Here you also mention what further steps you will take and also expect the employee to take.

Say, for example, you let them know that you have informed the accounts team about the resignation and they will put the systems in place for their full and final settlement. Or, that you need the employee to return a bunch of company equipment by the end of the next month.

The employee should be made fully aware of their next steps.

26. HR Letter – Salary increment

After a bunch a kind of sad themed letters, we now move on to the one for salary increment. A salary increment letter is a document that goes out to employees who are going to get a raise. It is an official notification telling the employee how much their salary has gone up and by when this new pay will come into effect.

Salary increments are often given to employees who have been consistently performing well and deserve to be rewarded for it. Increments work both as amazing rewards and motivators for employees.

What should it include?

Name of employee
Designation of employee
Current and new salary
The month from which the new salary will be paid
If the increment follows exceptional performance on a particular project, that too should be called out in the letter

27. Suspension letter

Moves like this never get easy, no matter how many times you do it. But having a template in place makes sure you do it correctly! When an employee has maybe misbehaved with someone else from the team, usually they first receive a couple of warnings. But if the behaviour continues, then the employer has no option but to place the employee on suspension. Especially while the behaviour is under investigation.

A suspension letter should very clearly state the reason why the employee is being suspended in the first place. You should also mention things like when the suspension will come into effect and the duration of the suspension. A well-drafted suspension message would also inform the employee about their right to oppose the suspension in writing if they think it is wrongful.

The tone should be extremely formal and firm throughout. If there is an investigation into the wrong behaviour, then you should also talk about what the employee (who is on suspension) has to do with regard to the investigation. This could include showing up for questioning by HR or senior management, staying away from the office premises or the person the wronged etc.

28. Termination or employee dismissal letter

One step beyond suspension is termination. When an employee is asked to leave an organization, they are sent a termination letter. Like in the case of suspension, it is usually done after a few warnings, should be firm and formal and should mention that the employee has the right to oppose the termination in writing if they think it is wrongful.

29. Transfer letter

A transfer could mean 2 things:

Shifting departments within a company at the same location
Shifting location within the same company

When you write a transfer letter, it mentions which type of transfer it is. Other details you should include here,

Employee’s new role and job description
Employee’s new manager or who they report to
If it is a shift in location, new office address
Change in salary (if applicable)
Contact details of someone the employee can get in touch with if they have any questions or doubts

30. Warning letter

Earlier, we spoke about giving a warning before suspending or terminating employees, remember? When you give them a warning it is done via a formal warning letter. The letter includes details about the misconduct of the employee and corrective measures that will be taken against him/her if the behaviour is not fixed.

After the warning, either the employee corrects their behaviour, or they don’t (in which case you’ll probably end up using the suspension or termination letter templates!!).

What are the types of HR letters?

There may be various different HR mail types. Please check the section on HR mail formats for a ready made list of the HR mail template types. Typical types of HR mail formats include the following:

Salary increment letter type
Release letter type
Promotion letter type
Performance review letter type,
Offer letter, etc.

How can an HRMS help in the HR mail issuance process?

Firstly, when you download these templates, you need to customise them with data specific to your needs and requirements. That too may be time-consuming! Obviously not as much time as if you were to manually write them, but it still takes more time.

What if I told you there was a way to automate the entire HR mail format process, where it literally needs no more than 3 clicks?

Use pre-existing templates and have the system fill in the data for you

The HRMS will already have a set of templates you could pick from. And what makes it simpler, is that the software will already have all your employee data. With a few clicks, the data will get inserted into your letters automatically! This means that you won’t have to manually customize it every time you send out an email.

Save loads of time

Since it’s all being done in just 3 clicks, think of the amount of time you’ll save! This time saved means that you will be able to focus on other, non-administrative tasks. You can spend more time strategising better.

Zero errors

By using templates you have anyway reduced your chances of errors drastically. But by using an HRMS, you have essentially opted for a zero error method. The templates have placeholders, that fetch all the data from the database and auto-fill the information into each template. So there’s absolutely no chance of errors.

Conclusion

We’ve seen a lot of HR mails in this blog, along with when they are used. Hopefully, you have downloaded the templates by now? No? What are you waiting for?

So, now you have a full collection of 30 templates that can save you tons of time and energy. Customize them as you wish and you’ll be good to go!

FAQs

What is the HR letter?

It is not a single thing, but a list. Basically, throughout an HR’s span, while working in a company, they interact with different employees. Each of these employees are at different stages of their own employee life cycle. So, one might need a recommendation or experience letter, while one might need an employment contract or an NDA. HR mail formats is basically a list of all these documents that are used by HR.

How do I start an HR letter?

1. You can start it by adding your name in the first line (in the from section), followed by ‘Human resources department’. This should ideally be followed by the registered company address.
2. After this, use an appropriate salutation such as ‘Dear’ or ‘Hello’ depending on the type and tone of the message.
3. Add the name of the person you are addressing the letter to, their job department name and again the company address.

How do I end an HR letter?

1. End the message with your own (HR manager or founder) phone number or email ID so that the person can get in touch with you in case of queries
2. Follow the previous step with an appropriate sign-off.This should include your name, your designation, and your department name. You could also add your phone number or email ID here again.

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Not to be considered as tax, legal, financial or HR advice. Regulations change over time so please consult a lawyer, accountant or Labour Law expert for specific guidance.