Sample Day Off Request Emails

Sometimes you just need a day off to tend to an urgent issue. Maybe the kids aren’t feeling well, or you need to visit the doctor. Whatever your reasons may be, it’s necessary to let your boss or supervisor know that you’ll be needing the day off.

Some companies may require employees to make an in-person request while others require a written statement. This is why we’ve put together some templates to help make your job easier.

You simply need to copy and modify them to suit your unique situation. Additionally, we’ve also provided some tips to help you whenever you need to email your boss or supervisor.

Tips For Emailing Your Boss

While tools like Slack and Teams are leveraged for easier communication across organizations worldwide, emails continue to be used in these organizations, especially when communicating with a supervisor over formal correspondence.

But unlike sending emails to coworkers where you can be informal and not worry about mistakes, you should be careful when writing to your Boss. Let’s look at a few things to keep in mind.

Clear Reasons

Let your supervisor or boss know exactly what you need. If you have room for vacation days and would like your day off to count towards that, you can include it in the email.

Like everyone else, your boss also has emergencies and understands your situation. Let them know exactly why you need the day off. If you need the time to attend to the children, you should let them know.

Clear Subject Line

While you would not be able to include all relevant information in the subject line of the email, it should present the general purpose of the email within a few words.

This helps your boss or supervisor locate the email, understand the possible content even before reading the full message and finally ascertain the importance and urgency of the email.

After all, your boss would most likely have a busy schedule. A clear subject line would help them identify the urgency of the email especially when they have a boatload of work to get done.
Examples:
Request for Time Off on {{Date}}

Use Proper Name

Coming down to the body of the email, you should identify the name your boss wishes for you or the general employee body to call them.

If they prefer to be addressed by their first names, you should address them as such. On the other hand, if you aren’t sure how they want to be addressed, you can either ask your colleagues or simply use your boss’ surname.

Keep in mind your workplace culture at this point. Some workplaces encourage informal communication between all members of the organization.
For informal workplaces, you start with:
Good {{morning/afternoon/evening}} {{Boss’ firstname}}
Hi {{Boss’ firstname}}
In the case of a very formal workplace where you aren’t sure of the best way to address your boss, you can simply start with:
Dear {{Mr. /Mrs /Ms. Surname}}
Hello {{Mr. /Mrs /Ms. Surname}}

Set Tone

Maybe something happened at the workplace that you didn’t like or there’s something you find annoying. You should always mind your tone in your professional emails.

It doesn’t matter whether the company’s doing something you’re unhappy with, you should always mind the tone of your communication. If you sound angry, your Boss is less likely to mind your request or even finish reading your email.

Use Work Email

Refrain from contacting your boss through your personal email. Most organizations implement some form of spam filter that may flag personal emails as spam.

The last thing anyone wants is to send an urgent message to their boss only to find out days later that they never got the email. Emails that come through the company emails are whitelisted ensuring that your boss receives them inside their inbox.

This is why most organizations provide their employees with company emails for communication within the company as well as correspondence with external companies.

Keep It Concise

Your boss probably receives loads of emails daily. The last thing they want to do is to spend precious time reading through a long email to determine its content.

No matter how important your email may be, your boss is not likely to spend 30 minutes trying to understand its content. It’s advisable to use short and clear wording to easily convey the content of your message.

Proofread

No one likes reading terrible grammar, especially in a professional setting. It’s advisable to proofread your email to identify any grammatical errors before sending it to your boss.

Tools like Grammarly are readily available to help identify errors in your writing. Keep in mind that these tools aren’t perfect. So manually proofreading your email can further enhance your message.

On the other hand, poor grammar could give your boss some laughs. But keep in mind that others are bound to join in.

Easy To Understand

Your boss most likely receives tens or even hundreds of emails daily, especially in the case of larger organizations. Ensure that your email is easy to understand within the shortest amount of time.

To determine this, you can ask a colleague or friend to skim through the email to test whether it’s easy to understand and adequately presents the necessary information.

End Formally

At this point, you can thank your boss for taking the time to review your request and then reiterate any relevant information before signing off.

Example:
Thank you for your time and assistance.

Signature

Official emails to your boss should be signed off with your official signature which includes your full name, job title, department if applicable, and contact details when available.

This can be easy if you’ve already created your signature template for your company email. The system would automatically include your signature in every email.

If you haven’t created a signature template for your email, you should manually include this in your email to your boss.

It can be something like this:
Sincerely,
{{Fullname}}
{{Department if applicable}}
{{Job role/title}}
{{Contact details (optional)}}