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Sympathy card message
for a coworker.

Keep it short, keep it specific to them, and do not try to explain the loss. Two sentences is enough.

The messages below are sorted by how well you knew them and who is signing.

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Lino-cut lettering in a printed band. With sympathy, from everyone at work.

With sympathy from all of us.

From Nadia

From all of us: we are so sorry. The office can wait.

From Joe

Your colleagues and I are thinking of you. Do not worry about work.

From Priya

Sympathy card messages for a coworker

Pick one, change a detail so it is true of them, and sign your name.

Short

  • We are so sorry for your loss. We are here.

  • Thinking of you today, and in the weeks ahead.

  • With sympathy from all of us.

  • No words are enough. We just want you to know we are thinking of you.

  • We are sorry. Take all the time you need.

From the team

  • The whole team is thinking of you. We are here when you are ready, and not before.

  • Everyone here sends their sympathy. You do not have to face this alone.

  • We are holding you in our thoughts. Please let us know if there is anything practical we can do.

  • From all of us: we are so sorry. The office can wait.

  • We wanted you to hear from all of us at once. You are in our thoughts.

From a manager

  • Please take whatever time you need. Your place here is secure and nothing at work is more important than this.

  • We are so sorry for your loss. I will handle anything that cannot wait and the rest will keep.

  • Your colleagues and I are thinking of you. Do not worry about work.

  • Take the time. We will be here when you are ready, and there is no rush.

For someone you knew well

  • I am so sorry. I know how much they meant to you, and I am thinking of you every day.

  • Please call me if you want to talk, or if you just want company. I mean it.

  • You have been in my thoughts all week. I am here whenever you need me, for anything at all.

  • I did not know what to write, so I just want to say: I am sorry, and I am here.

  • Say the word and I will bring food.

When the team knew the person too

  • We will miss them too. They were part of this place.

  • Everyone who met them here remembers them warmly. We are so sorry for your loss.

  • They were known and liked here. We share a small part of your grief.

  • We are sorry. Those of us who knew them are glad we did.

What not to write

Do not say they are in a better place, or that time heals, or that everything happens for a reason. Those phrases belong to the writer, not the reader. Say you are sorry and stop.

Do not bring up work. The handover, the deadlines, who is covering. That is for a separate message on a separate day. The card is not the place.

Do not write 'I can only imagine what you are going through'. You cannot, and they know it. At work you see one corner of a person's life. Say you are sorry and let them tell you what they need.

A sympathy card is not the place to say everything. Four short messages from four colleagues, each signed with a name, lands better than one long message from whoever got to the card first.

One card from the whole team

Set the date, send one link, and the card opens for them when you choose.

  1. 01

    Set the date.

    Pick the day you want them to receive it. The card opens that morning and not before.

  2. 02

    Ask everyone to sign.

    Each person gets one link. They write their own message and sign their own name.

  3. 03

    They read it in their own time.

    One card, every name. They can come back to it whenever they are ready.

Create a card

Pick a design

  • Cutpaper sympathy card. Thinking of you.
  • A bunch of flowers. With love, from all of us.
  • Midcentury sympathy card. Thinking of you.
  • Marker lettering. We're here. For whatever you need, whenever.
  • A candle in a dark window. Thinking of you.
  • Stilllife sympathy card. Thinking of you.
  • Marker lettering. Take all the time you need. We've got things here.
  • A tree. With deepest sympathy.
  • A leaf. We're thinking of you, all of us.
  • Pop sympathy card. Thinking of you.

Questions

What do you say in a sympathy card to a coworker?

Name that you heard and that you are sorry. If you can offer something practical, a coffee, food, a quiet lunch, say so. Do not try to put a shape on their grief.

Is it appropriate to send a sympathy card from the whole team?

Yes, and it is often better than a dozen separate messages arriving at different times. One card, signed by everyone, means they only have to receive it once.

What if you did not know the person they lost?

You do not need to have known the person who died. Write that you are sorry for their loss and that they are not alone at work. That is what a coworker can honestly say.

Part of group cards at work.

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