Often, when leaving a company, you do so with a heavy heart. If you’re leaving on good terms, that is. If the separation is mutual and no ill feelings remain, you may want to express your parting sentiments to your coworkers remaining behind. In this case, you’ll want to distill your parting thoughts in a touching farewell letter to colleagues.

Because so much of your time goes toward working alongside these people, making sure to tie up loose ends, promising to keep in touch, and ultimately, leaving a good impression, are paramount. This is especially true as you worked hard to build your personal brand.

Also, practically speaking, because you spent over one-third of your waking hours with these people, you’ve likely developed lasting relationships with the people you worked with, including supervisors, teammates, and other colleagues you may have worked with on past projects or teams.

To drive home the importance of your relationships, your touching farewell letters to colleagues need to demonstrate the network you built resulted in something more than merely business casual in nature. Stating in plain language how your experiences developed you as a person, resulted in formative experiences, and occupied your time in a worthwhile manner should come across in your words.

A farewell letter gracefully and professionally informs your colleagues about your departure. It also sets the tone for your entire tenure and parting. Your goal here should include leaving a positive impression, stating your gratefulness for the experiences shared with your coworkers, and demonstrating your fondness for your time spent together.

This will result in placing your best foot forward and also not tipping the scales toward eagerness to leave. While there may be an element of that present, you at no point want to express negativity in your statements.

This includes avoiding resentment, and instead, stating just enough to inform your coworkers of your next steps in your career (or retirement if you’ve reached financial independence). Exhibit sound decision-making and part on good terms.

As you’ve commonly heard, absence makes the heart grow fonder. Make sure your parting impression makes people want to see you again should you ever return. This will make people remember you as generous and kind, avoids jealousy and shows respect and admiration for your time spent together.