Our office will be closed on [date] for the public holiday and will reopen again as normal on [date]. Contact details for emergency can be found on our website.
If you’re at a work event (e.g. a conference)If you’re off sickIf you’re working from a different location
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Hello, We are currently closed for the holiday. If it’s something urgent you can email [name] at [email]. Kind regards. [Name/signature]
You can also schedule your auto replies ahead to send at a specific time for a set it and forget it solution.
The worst one I ever received was from a coworker (senior to me, but not my manager) many years ago. I’ll paraphrase it as my memory isn’t great:
I will return with a glowing tan on [insert date] and respond promptly to all emails. If your request is time sensitive, please email [insert name] at [insert email].
The majority of your out-of-office emails will go to recipients with whom you communicate regularly. If you are sure that there’s a certain level of familiarity with all of the people that get your auto-reply messages, consider writing something about yourself, a funny note, or a joke. That allows them to develop a more personal relationship with you.
We log in to the voicemail account and simply activate any of the 4 greetings. With our Cisco VoIP system, I am able to create a Standard, Alternate, Closing and Holiday greeting, however, I can only activate/use the Standard or Alternate Greeting during business hours. I can only activate the Closed or Holiday during specific times.
While you shouldn’t use a vacation message like the first example in this article, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a little bit of fun with your emails.
A couple work friends and I banded together years ago to fill each others’ voicemails so it would be impossible to leave us new voicemails.
Setting up an effective out-of-office autoresponder may seem to be a simple task. However, there is nothing worse than receiving an automated response that is not clear or useful. You want your “out of office” message to provide useful information and clarify why you are not available now. You certainly want to avoid any confusion or frustration.
“For the Symantec office, I send holiday wishes for the employees’ holiday out of office. I wish all the employees have lots of fun and adventure during the recreational holiday period. Have a happy holiday.”
We're talking about engagement here. Do you have a webinar clients can watch in case they miss your face or want to hear your voice? Do you have a special going for new clients or referrals? Do you have a hot new blog post you wrote just before stepping out? Tell your people to click on that!
I hate unnecessary out of office messages. You don’t need to tell me you will be out for two hours. If it was that important, I would not be using e-mail!
First, and most importantly, let the people trying to get in touch with you know when you’ll be gone and when you’ll be returning. There’s one more date to add — when they can expect for you to return their message.
Get the time and date right for when the automatic emails start - you could choose the the moment that you actually leave the office, or some cheeky people choose an hour or two before they leave, saying that they are busy handing over or wrapping up to deal with customers or other colleagues. They are still able to check the emails they do get anyway, to reply properly to if they want to.