Sample Email To Politely Ask Boss For Signature

You finish work on a letter, request, or document and need your boss to sign it before it can be forwarded to the appropriate party.

Maybe this request is something personal and you don’t want to come off as entitled. How do you politely ask your boss for their signature?

Fortunately, we’ve got you covered, as we’ve put together some templates to help you get the job done in the shortest possible time.

Additionally, we’ve also included some tips to help you write great emails to your boss now and in the future.

Tips For Emailing Your Boss

Despite the increasing use of services like Slack and Teams among businesses, emails remain one of the most popular forms of business communication.

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.

Decide On Your Reason For Writing The Email

It doesn’t matter how close you may be to your boss; you should keep in mind that the workplace is a professional setting and you’re expected to act as such in official communications.

Have you already filled in the relevant parts and simply need your boss’ email? Do you need their signature in one place or multiple pages? Make sure you identify this before you reach out to them.

Clear

Don’t waste their time by beating around the bush. Let them know exactly what you need and where you need it.

Additionally, you should also let them know what the document is for. Some bosses won’t simply sign something without knowing the full story.

If they asked you to work on the document, let them know that that’s the document they asked you to work on by naming the document in a way that they would easily remember.

Act Early

Projects at the workplace are time-sensitive. Don’t wait till the deadline is almost up to bring it up to your boss. They may already have busy schedules and may not be able to go through the file before signing.

Keep in mind that some supervisors would sign a document once they’ve read through its contents. Depending on their schedule they may not be able to read through the entire document before the deadline.

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 Signature

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:
Thanks for your time and consideration

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)}}