How do you sign off work emails?

[CharlotteCollinsneeLucas]

I feel this is a gap in my education! I know how to write a formal letter, but what about emails to people at work you know?

The options I see are:

Best wishes
Regards
Kind regards

All of which feel awkward. Kind regards just appeared about five years into my adult life and I'd not seen it before. I've never much liked it, but that could be associations with the person I first knew to use it! Is it quite normal really?

I usually just go with my name and nothing else. I'm vaguely aware that probably comes across as awkward in itself...

I actually always do best wishes - I hate kind regards

Oops. Sorry to throw a spanner in the works.

A customer of mine uses KR because he's sooooo busy he doesn't have time to type Kind Regards
Took me ages to figure out what it meant

Just your name comes across as blunt and rude. Regards or kind regards is fine.

Usually “best wishes”, or “thanks”. Like PP I was caught out by “kind retards” previously.

Unrelated, but I used to work with a colleague called Guy, who frequently got emails saying “Hi Gay”. He was actually gay, and said he was always tempted to reply to external Gays with “how did you know?”

Thanks 😊
Thank You 😊
Stay safe 🙂
Sending you positive energy 🙂
I'm on it 🙂
Keeping you warm 🙂

We are a very relaxed workplace

Best - standard
Kind Regards - bit irritated
Regards - getting to end of my tether
My name only - you are a moron
(Very best) - you have been consistently fantastic and are one of my favourites. This is used maybe twice a year.

There's no standard way, best advice is to check what's common in your own workplace.

Wuvoo wots

My default is Regards.

I work in scientific journal editing ie prior to publication.

I mostly use "Best wishes"

If I've had to be a bit snotty (because they are not doing what they're told!) then it seems a bit false to say best wishes, so I might say "I look forward to hearing from you" or "let me know if I can help".

For close colleagues anything goes.

As it seems no matter what you do, people will decide you mean something that you don’t, I don’t put anything.

'Kind regards', or even better, 'regards' is so passive-aggressive I love using it. Also, 'thanks in advance', for when you're asking someone to do something you know they'd rather not do.

Yes 'I look forward to hearing from you' i.e. 'I know you want to ignore this so I'm trying to make sure you can't.'

Depends on the content and who the recipient is.
Normally Best wishes or Many thanks. Sometimes regards

I’ve used Regards a lot and had no idea that people used it when they were pissed off! So loads of people have probs thought I was grumpy with them when I wasn’t.

Thanks and regards

Or Best regards

Ooops

It would appear I've been sending 'pissed off' vibes...

I'm not fond of 'kind regards' it seems overly 'soft' for externals, so I mostly put, simply, Regards. I didn't know so many people took offence 🤷🏻‍♀️

However, I suppose my saving grace is that I'm pretty friendly, pretty quickly so most of my emails are signed off with much more familiarity 🤷🏻‍♀️

Might have to rethink the plain 'regards' though if it's not simply conveying a neutral sign off as intended 🙄

Definitely "Kind regards" on anything external.

I used to work with a guy who used KR. It took me ages to work out that also meant kind regards.

And I used to use "regards" all the time till Mumsnet told me people would think I was pissed off with them.

@ThickFast

I’ve used Regards a lot and had no idea that people used it when they were pissed off! So loads of people have probs thought I was grumpy with them when I wasn’t.

There would seem to be a few of us,so maybe it's actually ok in the wider world!

@SlinkyStairs

Kind regards is the default.

If they have pissed me off just regards

If they have really pissed me off just name

If they have really really pissed me off I dont reply

this is exactly the system I've recently adopted! I always used to drop the 'kind' off 'kind regards' but just signing my name has been my latest step. Inspired actually in main by the top layer of management in my organisation whom sign themselves with just their name as default very often. I think it sounds incredibly arsey and rude when people do that- especially if the email they received (from me) had 'thanks' or 'many thanks' on the end and, after a particularly stressful day it was the straw that broke my back, so I decided to start mirroring the 'just my name' sign off whenever I got an email from them. I reckon it shocked them a bit and perhaps made them realise how arsey it sounds to the recipient because now they very rarely do the name only sign off thing to me.

Corporate standard globally is 'Thanks, '.

Unknown externally is 'Kind regards, '.

Generic/polite - Kind regards
To people I dislike/who have annoyed me - Regards
When I've made a request and expect a response - Many thanks/Many thanks in advance

More formal emails ‘Kind regards’ if someone tells me they are leaving or have not been well ‘kind regards and best wishes’.

Or if it less formal to a colleague thanks or just my initial or christian name.

Mostly 'Thanks' because I feel I should put something but would personally prefer nothing except my name.

Occasionally 'Regards' if you've pissed me off and/or I'm forced into pointing out the bleeding obvious.

I see 'Kind regards' a lot within my organisation (Education) and it grates on me - so insincere.