Reference Letter Template

A free reference letter template for US employers, in Word and PDF. Use it when a current or former employee asks you, as their manager or the owner, for a letter of recommendation. It’s built around one idea: write only what you can stand behind. And for businesses whose policy is to confirm facts only, there’s a second sheet: a neutral reference with job title and dates.

What you get

• Word file: both letters ready to edit, with every detail to change highlighted as a [placeholder], plus the notes.
• PDF, 5 pages: the blank recommendation letter and the blank neutral reference, the same two letters filled in for a fictional print and sign shop, and a page of notes with sources.

What a good reference letter includes

• How you know them. Your role, and how long you managed or worked with the employee. A reader weighs the letter by this first.
• The facts. Job title, start and end dates, and the main duties, taken from your records.
• Strengths with proof. Two or three, each tied to something specific: a number, a result, a moment you saw. “Trained five new press operators, four of whom stayed a year” says more than “great leader”.
• Why they fit the new role. One or two sentences that link what you saw to the job they’re applying for.
• Your contact details. So the new employer can call to check.
• Nothing you can’t back up. No guesses about the future, no inflated praise, and nothing about health, leave, family or other protected traits.

How to write a letter of recommendation for an employee

1. Ask the employee what the letter is for: the job, the employer and the deadline. Ask for the job posting if there is one.
2. Get their OK in writing to share details of their work. An email is fine.
3. Check your reference policy. If your business confirms facts only, use the neutral reference and stop here.
4. Pull the dates, job title and duties from payroll and personnel records.
5. Pick three strengths that matter for the new job, and write one true example for each.
6. Read it as the new employer would. Cut anything vague, and anything you couldn’t explain on the phone.
7. Sign and date it, send it, and keep a copy with the request in the employee’s file.

Completed example

The example in the download is from the owner of a fictional print and sign shop in Wisconsin, recommending a former production lead for a production supervisor job. It gives his dates and duties, then three strengths with examples: press operators he trained who stayed, a proof check that cut reprints, and rush deadlines met for the shop’s largest clients. The second example is a neutral reference for a different former employee, a part-time customer service associate, with job title, dates and status only.

Sample recommendation letter for an employee from a manager

If you’re writing as the employee’s direct manager, the letter usually runs like this:

1. Opening: “I am glad to recommend [name] for the position of [job]. I was [name]’s direct supervisor at [company] from [date] to [date].”
2. The job: one sentence on their duties.
3. What you saw: three short points, each with an example.
4. The fit: why they would do well in the new role.
5. Close: an optional “I would gladly hire them again”, if it’s true, and your phone number.

That’s the structure of the template. Keep it to one page; a long letter isn’t a stronger one.

Recommendation letter or neutral reference?

Use the recommendation when you managed the person’s work, you can honestly recommend them, and your business allows managers to give references.

Use the neutral reference when your policy is to confirm facts only, when you didn’t manage the person closely, or when you can’t recommend them honestly. A lukewarm letter, or an inflated one, can mislead the new employer and cause problems later.

Whichever you choose, be consistent. The EEOC says it is illegal to give a negative or false reference, or to refuse a reference, because of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age (40 or older), disability or genetic information. Its retaliation guidance adds that former employees are protected too: an unjustified negative reference, a refused reference or telling a new employer about a past discrimination complaint can all be retaliation. If you normally give references and suddenly don’t for someone who complained, it can look like retaliation even when it isn’t.

What to leave out of an employee reference letter

• Health and leave: illness, disability, medical or family leave, workers’ compensation claims.
• Personal details: age, pregnancy or family plans, religion, national origin and other protected traits.
• Complaints the employee made, about pay, safety, harassment or anything else.
• The reason they left, unless the employee asks you to include it and it’s accurate.
• Promises you can’t make: “will be an asset to any company” says nothing and can’t be checked.

Before you agree to write one

Pause and get advice before writing about an employee who has a complaint, charge or claim open against your business, or who left after a dispute. In those cases, a neutral reference, given the same way you give it to everyone, is usually the safer choice. If you need to confirm someone’s job for a landlord or lender rather than recommend them, use the employment verification letter instead.

Got a reference request and not sure what you can say in your state? hrsupport.io answers HR questions for your state, with the law behind every answer.