Formal Letter

Most official letters are formal in nature. They are formal because lot of major as well as minor decisions need to be communicated. To ensure that official letters are taken seriously, they need to be formal. Formal official letters can be of various kinds:

1. Layoff letters
2. Office holiday information letters
3. Employees leave structure letters
4. Promotion letters
5. Demotion letters
6. Termination letters
7. Hiring letters

This is just a small list, there may be many more to add to this list. Formal Letters can either be written to specific individuals or to a group of employees. If it is written to one individual, it is meant only for her/him. But if it is written to a group of individuals, then it applies to all of them equally.

DOS AND DON’T’S OF FORMAL LETTERS

• A Formal Letter should always be on the company letterhead
• It should be typed and not hand written
• Before the letter is sent out it must be checked for any grammatical or punctuation errors
• Even though it is a typed letter, the signatures should not be embossed
• The name and address of the addressee should be on the top left corner of the letter
• The name and address should be followed by the date
• After the date mention the subject line
• The letter should start with “Dear” even if the reader is unknown. This brings warmth in the letter for the reader
• If the reader is a known person then the letter should directly be addressed to her/him
• If however the reader and the gender is not known then it should be addressed to “madam/sir”
• Formal Letters should be short and brief
• The letter should give all possible details about the subject matter that it is intended to talk about
• The tone of the letter should not be authoritative or dictatorial. Based on the letter type, the tone could be either polite or firm
• Effort should be made to ensure that the letter does not give a feeling of being closed or blocked, i.e. it should be an open ended letter indicative that options are open
• If it is a letter that is needed to inspire the employees, then it should have adjectives to support the thought
• Alternatively if the letter is to convey a strict decision taken, then appropriate adjectives should be used
• An Informal Letter should ensure that communication is transparent
• The letter should end with “yours sincerely” or “best regards”
• The authorized signatories phone number of email address should form a part of the letter so that the reader has the option of contacting her/him in case any clarifications are needed

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