A memo is the quiet workhorse of office life. It confirms a decision, flags a risk, asks four people to do something by Friday. Get it right and nobody comments on it, which is exactly the point. Get it wrong and you spend the following week explaining what you actually meant.
If you have never written one, the good news is that memos follow a predictable shape. Learn the shape once and you can adapt it to almost anything.
What a memo is actually for
The word comes from memorandum, a thing to be remembered. That is the clue. A memo exists to put something on the record and to get a response, not to show how much you know.
In most British offices, a memo is right for:
- announcing a change in process, hours or access arrangements;
- recording a decision and the reasons behind it;
- asking a group of people to do something by a set date;
- summarising a meeting or a project for people who were not there.
It is the wrong tool for anything personal. Pay, performance, grievances and health matters belong in a private conversation with HR involved, not in a document that sits in a shared folder.
Email and memo overlap, and that is fine. Send an email for a two-line question to one person. Write a memo when the content needs to be read by several people, filed, and referred back to in three months' time.
Know your audience before you type a word
Most first drafts go wrong here, not in the grammar. People write for the person who asked them to write, when the real reader is a finance officer in another building who has no idea what project you are on.
Ask yourself four things:
- Who is the main reader, and who else will be copied in?
- What do they already know, and what do they need telling from scratch?
- What do I want them to do — approve, attend, reply, or simply note it?
- What objection or awkward question is most likely to come back?
Write so that the least-informed reader can follow it. If the detail is heavy, put a short summary at the top and the figures in an appendix or a separate attachment.
The structure that works
The header block
Keep it to four lines: To, From, Date, Subject. Add CC if other people need to see it. Then make the subject line earn its place. "Car park" tells nobody anything. "Car park barrier repairs: access arrangements from 3 June" tells them whether they need to read on.
The opening line
State the purpose immediately, in one sentence. Something like: "This memo sets out the new process for booking meeting rooms, which takes effect on 1 July." No warm-up, no throat-clearing. The reader should know within five seconds why this is in front of them.
The body
Two or three sentences of context, then the detail, then what changes. Use subheadings if it runs past a page. Number the points if people need to follow them in order, and keep each paragraph to a single idea. Long paragraphs get skimmed, and skimmed memos get ignored.
The closing
Finish with actions, not pleasantries. Who is doing what, by when, and who to contact with questions. If you need a reply, say so and give a date.
A short example
To: All staff, Customer Services
From: R. Patel, Office Manager
Date: 12 May
Subject: New meeting room booking process from 1 JulyThis memo explains the new booking process and what changes for you on 1 July.
At the moment, bookings are held in a paper diary at reception. This means two teams can book the same room without knowing.
From 1 July, all bookings go through the shared calendar. Reception will no longer take bookings by phone or in person.
Action: please move any bookings you have for July onwards into the shared calendar by 26 May. Reply to confirm once this is done.
Getting the tone right in a British workplace
Aim for plain, calm and courteous. Direct does not mean curt, and polite does not mean stiff. "Please send your figures by Thursday" is perfectly acceptable. "I trust this finds you well" is not, and neither is "kindly be advised". Cut the padding and the meaning gets through faster.
Two habits are worth breaking. The first is over-apologising: you do not need to say sorry three times for asking a colleague to do their job. The second is hiding behind the passive voice. "It has been decided that the deadline will be moved" leaves everyone guessing who decided. "The finance team has moved the deadline to 30 June" is shorter and more useful.
Skip jokes and exclamation marks unless you know your readers well. A memo may be forwarded to people you have never met.
Final checks before you send
- Does the subject line say what this is and when it matters?
- Could someone who reads only the first two sentences and the action list act correctly?
- Is every action tied to a named person and a date?
- Have you written anything that could read as blame? Reframe it as a process problem.
- Are names, job titles and dates correct, with UK date order (day, month, year)?
- Is the content sensitive? If it touches pay, conduct or redundancy, pause and take HR advice first.
- Has anyone else read it — particularly if it goes to a wider audience than your own team?
Sending your first one
Pick something small and real this week: a change of room for a recurring meeting, a new deadline for expenses claims, a short note on who covers whose calls during leave. Write it in four paragraphs, keep it under a page, and read it aloud once. If you stumble, your reader will too.
The skill builds quickly. After two or three memos, the header block, the opening line and the action list become automatic, and you can give your attention to the part that actually matters: saying clearly what you need and why.
Photo: AymaneJed / Pixabay
