Letter of Apology for Unprofessional Behavior

What is an apology letter?

It is a type of writing that someone writes to express the feeling of regret based on something that happened in the past due to the person’s carelessness or negligence. In the professional world, people are expected to behave in a certain way. They are told the code of conduct that they must follow. It makes them look professional, and their behaviour is regarded as professional. So, when someone does not behave professionally, they should regret and apologize.

Why is an apology letter important?

Unprofessional behaviour always causes inconvenience to people. For example, when an employee behaves improperly by coming to work late, he causes inconvenience to all those people who work around him and depend on him to start his work and collaborate. In this situation, people usually get annoyed. Employers don’t want this to happen in their company.

Therefore, they feel it is very important to admonish employees who do not act professionally. In this situation, when an employee writes an apology letter, he attempts to appease the situation.

Common mistakes people make while writing apology letters:

People express their regretful feelings because they feel this is the only way to keep the serious consequences of showing unprofessional behaviour at bay. However, most people don’t pull it off. This happens because people generally make the following mistakes:

  1. People who make mistakes at the workplace usually feel that they have stooped too low and that’s why they should not accept the mistake. The fear of being ashamed makes them not accept their mistake.
  2. Another common mistake is being defensive in the letter. This approach annoys the employer a lot. People try to defend themselves and their unprofessional acts and accept their mistakes. When people become defensive, the employer feels that they won’t correct themselves because they have many justifications to prove that what has been considered wrong is not actually wrong.

What are the basic components of the apology letter?

To draft a better letter, you need to consider the following items:

  • A statement that shows that you own the mistake

You should make a straight and blunt statement about owning the mistake. State that no one holds the responsibility for this mistake but you.

  • Describe the situation:

Although you have accepted a mistake, you should explain why you made it in the first place.

  • Admit that you were wrong:

Sometimes, your employer only wants you to admit the mistake. Do it right away, and things will get better with time.

Sample apology letter:

25th April, 20XX

From:
Address:

To:
Address:

Subject: Apology letter for [X] behavior

Respected Sir,

I am very ashamed of myself while writing this apology letter because I behaved unprofessionally. I have always worked diligently and never thought of a day when I would put shame on the name of the organization I work for.

I know that there is no justification for bad behaviour. However, I want to tell you that I am going through a lot of family crises and trying to work through them. Additionally, the workload is too much on me these days, combined with the stress I face at home. All these combined factors made me act improperly.

I did not attend the meetings held recently because of an unstable mental state. I am so much regretful for all the inconvenience that I caused you and everyone in the company. I accept here that I am solely responsible for the wrongdoing and I deserve to be punished for this.

I know that I made a big mistake. However, I am expecting you to forgive me, and this is the reason I am writing you this apology letter. I hope that you will accept my apology. If you want to discuss this matter further, you can call me to meet.

Regards,

Name of the sender
Designation

Signatures


File: Word (.docx) 2007+ and iPad
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