Formal letters: asking Human Resources to change your hours
You can write a formal letter to someone you do not know, cover all three bullet points and keep one polite tone throughout.
Your course starts in October, but its classes begin before your working day ends. You need different hours on two days a week, and your company's Human Resources department has to approve the change.
General Training Task 1 gives you a situation like this, tells you who to write to and lists three points to cover. Here the reader is a department. You do not know who will open your letter, so it is formal from the first line to the last.
At band 7, the descriptor says the letter presents a clear purpose, and the tone is consistent and appropriate to the task. At band 6, there may be minor inconsistencies in tone. One chatty line in a formal letter is that kind of slip.
Warm-up
The first line
Your manager, Paul Hughes, has agreed to change your hours, but you must write to the Human Resources department. You do not know who will read the letter. How do you begin?
Choose the best opening.
How it works
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You work full time for a large company. You have been offered a place on a part-time course, but the classes begin before your working day ends. Any change to your working hours must be approved by the company's Human Resources department.
Write a letter to the Human Resources department. In your letter
- explain what the course is and why you want to do it
- say what change you would like to make to your working hours
- explain how your work will still be done
Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Sir or Madam,
Write at least 150 words.
The task also tells you that you do not need to write any addresses at the top of your letter.
Formal, semi-formal or informal
Choose the one that applies to you
To someone you do not know, such as a company or one of its departments. If you have no name for the reader, open with Dear Sir or Madam, and close with Yours faithfully, and your full name.
For a person you know a little, like a neighbour. Their name after Dear, and a polite, friendly tone.
For a friend. Their first name, contractions such as I'm, and everyday words.
The letter, part by part
The parts, in order
Your purpose in one sentence. The reader does not know you, so add one sentence on who you are.
The course: its name, where it is, how long it lasts, and why it matters to you and to your work.
The change you want, with exact days and times.
How the work gets done: who has agreed, and who will help.
A polite request for a reply, then Yours faithfully, and your full name.
The same request, two tones
I want to leave at 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Is that OK? Thanks a lot.
I would like to leave at 5 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would be grateful if you could let me know whether this is possible.
Watch me do one
First, the reader. The task prints Dear Sir or Madam, and the letter goes to a department. I do not know who will open it, so every line is formal, and I close with Yours faithfully.
My first sentence gives the purpose: changing my hours for a course. The reader does not know me, so the second sentence says what job I do and where.
Bullet one, the course and why: I give it a name, a place and a length. For the reason, I pick one that helps the company too, because our department is taking on more projects.
Bullet two, the change: exact times work better than leave early. I start at 8 and leave at 5 on the two class days, so my total hours stay the same.
Bullet three, how the work gets done. My manager has agreed, so I say so and give his name. His name goes inside the letter. The greeting still has none, because he is not the one reading it.
A colleague who stays later will take my late calls. Then one polite request for an answer, Yours faithfully and my full name. That comes to about 185 words.
A model answer
Dear Sir or Madam, I would like to request a change to my working hours on two days a week, so that I can attend a part-time course. I have worked as an account manager in the Sales Department for four years. I have been offered a place on the Certificate in Project Management at Northbank College. The course starts on 6 October and runs for twenty weeks. As our department is taking on more client projects, I believe the course would allow me to manage some of this work myself. My usual hours are 9 am to 6 pm, but the classes begin at 5.30 pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I would therefore like to start at 8 am on those two days and leave at 5 pm, so that I still work my full hours. My manager, Paul Hughes, has agreed to this change. My colleague Anna Kowalska, who works until 6 pm, has kindly offered to take any late calls from my clients. I would be grateful if you could let me know whether this change can be approved. Yours faithfully, Leila Haddad
- TaskThe letter goes to a department, and nobody there is named, so the greeting has no name in it.
- TaskThe purpose, clear from the first sentence.
- GrammarOne sentence on who is writing, for a reader who does not know. The present perfect with for shows this is still the writer's job.
- TaskA reason that matters to the company as well as to the writer.
- TaskThe change, with exact times. Therefore links it to the class times just before.
- TaskNames can appear inside a formal letter. Mr Hughes stays out of the greeting because he is not the reader.
- VocabularyA formal request: would be grateful if you could, and whether.
- TaskThe closing that goes with Dear Sir or Madam. The writer's full name follows it.
Coloured text shows what the examiner is looking for.
Tone is hard to judge in your own writing. If you would like a teacher to read a letter line by line, Kriti and Christine do this in their classes.
Practice with Elita6 questions
Six questions on tone and layout, easiest first. The last one is a whole letter of your own.
The last line
Your letter to Human Resources begins Dear Sir or Madam,. Inside it, you name your manager, Mr Hughes. How should the letter end?
Choose the closing.
Casual to formal
Match each casual phrase to the formal phrase that does the same job in a letter.
Out of tone
This paragraph is from a letter to Human Resources. One sentence breaks the formal tone. Choose it.
Which sentence contains the error?
Polite requests
Complete both requests with one word each.
I would be if you could let me know by Friday. Would it be for me to start at 8 am on those days?
Write no more than 1 word in each gap.
Make it formal
Rewrite this sentence for your letter to Human Resources. Keep the meaning, and change the tone.
I can't stay after 5 on Tuesdays and Thursdays cos of my course, so can I go early?
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
A letter of your own
Write a whole letter for this new task. Give yourself 20 minutes, as in the exam.
Your company is moving your team to a new office that is much further from your home. Write a letter to the company's Human Resources department. In your letter: explain how the move will affect you; say what change to your working arrangements you would like; explain why this change would also work for the company. Begin your letter as follows: Dear Sir or Madam,
0 / 150 words
Set up your learning path at the top of this lesson to get band-specific feedback.
Words to keep
The times of day when you are at work. I would like to change my working hours on Tuesdays.
Be told that you can join a course. She has been offered a place on a management course.
Accept more work or responsibility. Our department is taking on more client projects.
The department that deals with a company's staff: hiring, contracts, pay and hours. Leila sent her request to Human Resources.
Officially agree to a plan or a request. Human Resources approved her new hours within a week.
Thankful. In letters, it starts a polite request. I would be grateful if you could reply by Friday.
Before you go
Decide the tone from the reader. A reader you cannot name gets a formal letter: Dear Sir or Madam at the top, Yours faithfully at the end.
Tell the reader your purpose in the first sentence, then say who you are.
Give each bullet point its own paragraph, with exact details such as names, days and times.
Keep every line formal: full forms, and polite requests with would and could.
Next: That is the end of Unit 2. Unit 3 is about technology, and it starts with words for technology and describing change.