The main thing to equivocate over for this sort of response is what details to include as a backup contact method. If your line of work means clients might need to urgently contact you, a mobile number might be appropriate, or if you’re lucky enough to have an assistant (must be nice), you can list their contact details.
The use of humans is weirdly condescending to me, like people who say ‘doggo’ sincerely. It seems incredibly off at work.
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But that sounds boring, right? Luckily, there are ways to spice up your OOO message by adding humor in just the right places.
Three Holidays. The end of the year brings a special gift: Three holidays give our spirits a lift. Thanksgiving, (Christmas/Hannukah/Other holiday) and New Year’s, too, May they bring lots of joy and pleasure to you. Happy Holidays! By Joanna Fuchs. Here's more holiday poetry, in a holiday message for cards, to send to people you care about.
But perhaps we have it all wrong, and are simply enslaving ourselves further to technology by toiling over OOOs that are personality-packed, marketing-friendly perfection. Maybe we need to be altogether more standoffish if we want to make our OOOs really work for us? NYU Professor Meredith Broussard, who’s the author of Artificial Unintelligence: How Computers Misunderstand the World, takes the inspiration for her OOO from US writer, poet and children’s author E.B. White, who once turned down an invitation from President Eisenhower with the words “I must decline, for secret reasons”. Accordingly, Broussard’s OOO reads simply: “I am out of the office, for secret reasons.”
Start with a friendly greeting. Skip the "Greetings," "Salutations," "Dear sir/madam." These are far too stuffy and robotic. Instead, start off your response with a simple "Hi" or Hello.
I could see the benefit if someone needed to ask something before they left. It seems courteous?
Thank you for your email. I’ll be offline starting Friday, November 20 through the Thanksgiving holiday with limited access to email, and will respond to your email upon my return on Monday, November 30. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Maria Gonzalez, my fellow digital marketing manager here at MixCo Media, at [email protected]. Thanks for your patience!
While it’s vital that you get the main points across in any vacation email, brevity is important. If you’re looking for something a little more to-the-point, try this one:
I am out of the office from January 14 to 20, with only limited access to my emails and voicemail. Please be informed that this mail hasn’t been forwarded. I’ll come back to you as soon as possible.
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In the normal times, my friends and I used to do “Crawl 4 Cancer” which is a bar crawl (aka debauchery day) where all proceeds go to cancer research. It’s great! But…yEEah, we’re not crawling FOR cancer…we’re very much against it! We laugh about it every year and the jokes never get old.
An out of office message lets you keep people informed and tells them how to proceed in your absence. You can also select options for urgent matters within your out of office message.
I am at an opera house in the countryside (i.e. without reception) and shall return to the office on XX.
Half of the auto-replies I get are for very specific chunks of time. Like, if you are out of the office for three hours I don’t need to know, dude.
I’ll reply to your message promptly when I return. But, if you require immediate assistance, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email] in my absence.
I do enjoy the transcribing of voicemails, so a lot of times I read that (and try to translate the weird interpretation from Siri). I rarely need to actually listen to the voicemail.