An apology letter is written by an employee to a supervisor or manager for acknowledging a mistake, apologizing for it, and highlighting measures to be taken for the mistake’s rectification. A mistake at a workplace could range from missing an important deadline or meeting, improper management of an assigned project, or late arrival to disrespectful dealing with a client, customer, or colleague.
The letter portrays professional conduct and signifies that the employee keenly owns and values his/her work. It serves to amend the relations with the relevant authorities.
An apology letter, therefore, should reflect a realization of a mistake rather than serving as a narrative of excuses for the mistake. While writing an apology letter, below mentioned things should be avoided:
- Blaming someone else: do not hold someone else responsible for a mistake and its consequences, it portrays a lack of ownership.
- Making an excuse: writing in a defensive way and making excuses can reflect an unapologetic attitude.
- Exaggerative details: stating irrelevant minor details leading to the mistake can invalidate the purpose of an apology letter.
To err is human, but the important part is the realization and rectification of the mistake. A formal apology letter should be well-structured. The following key components should be made part of an effective apology letter:
Header:
It includes the date and recipient’s information (name, designation, organization, and address). Adding a subject line is optional, but it highlights the subject to the recipient before giving the letter a thorough read.
Salutation:
In professional and formal letters it is important to add a salutation such as, “Dear Mr./Ms.”
Opening statement:
The letter must begin by communicating a sincere apology, remorse, or regret as a signifier of acknowledgment or realization of the mistake.
Body:
In the body of the letter, reflecting ownership of the mistake is important. It should then be followed up by specific incident (s) which lead to the occurrence of the mistake. Furthermore, adding an alternate measure that could have been taken to avoid the mistake can reiterate the realization.
Finally, the body should be ended by highlighting the measures which would be taken to avoid the mistake in the future or emphasize measures that have been taken already to be cautious.
Closing:
Adding an apology at closing and referring to the assistance which might be required is a good way to close the letter. It is then followed up with a closing salutation such as “Regards” or “Sincerely” and the sender’s information (name and signature).
Sample -1
Dear Mr./Ms.
I am writing to you to apologize for not taking along the activity material to ABC Institute, for the participants of our capacity-building training sessions. I understand that engagement is the core component of our session and my mistake made us look amateur.
I realize that teamwork is important for the delivery of productive outcomes and my neglectful behavior resulted in the negative feedback from the session’s participants.
To retain our client’s satisfaction, I have refunded half of the session cost to our client and apologized for the inconvenience.
For future reference, I have created an inventory for all the sessions along with the resources required for execution. I have also prepared a checklist for each of our sessions and I will ensure to check for all the requirements enlisted in the list before leaving for the upcoming sessions.
I understand that I cannot undo negative feedback marked in our record, but I assure you that it will never repeat.
I thank you for your timely intervention and for covering up for the activity, during the session, to minimize the damage to our organization’s reputation. I commit to being more careful.
Thank you for your understanding. Kindly suggest if any further remedial measures need to be taken.
Sincerely.
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Sample-2
I [name] am writing to apologize for a mistake I made on [date]. Sir as you know that the holidays are around the corner and we are having an end-of-season sale hence, there is a huge increase in the number of orders being placed online, at the company’s website. It is my job to confirm the orders by calling the customers on the phone number they have provided while placing the order and after confirming the orders, I forward them to the [name] department.
Due to the massive workload I accidentally missed out on a couple of orders and hence the order confirmation calls could not be made to those customers before further processing and delivery of the orders, this ended up creating some issues like the wrong product being delivered to the customer and in one case the product that was ordered by the customer, went out of stock and the [department] canceled the order but since the customer was not informed, they kept waiting for the delivery and ended up filing a late delivery complaint.
Sir, I want to assure you that this is an honest mistake and I did not miss these orders intentionally or due to any ill intent. I am extremely embarrassed for my negligence and assure you that this would not happen again. Please overlook this slip-up.
Looking forward to your forgiveness and understanding.
3-
I want to convey my heartfelt apology for coming late to the meeting held at [date]. I understand that this meeting with our prospective clients was very important and I had put great effort and research into my presentation. I worked late the previous night further trimming and pruning my presentation to make it more impressive and to ensure that no important point is left out. I was informed that the meeting would be held at noon in the main conference hall.
When I woke up the next day, I learned that the venue and the time had been changed and due to waking up according to the previously set time, I was desperately late.
Despite my best effort, I could not reach the office in time and missed my turn to present. I know that it must have given a very unprofessional and careless impression to the clients and harmed the company’s image for which I am truly embarrassed. I am also upset because all the time and effort I had put into this presentation has gone to waste.
Please overlook this slipup and I want to assure you that I would not give you a reason to complain again. It was an honest mistake and there was no ill intent or slackness involved.
Looking forward to your understanding and compassion.