Once they realize that your office is currently closed, the most important piece of information they probably want to know is your standard business hours. While this information can be tucked behind a phone menu option, it's best to state it upfront in your after hours recording.
Mine says something along the lines of “I’m currently away from my desk, and will be back online on Monday, 7 July…” and (if it’s a longer period and not just the next working day) perhaps also something like “If your enquiry is urgent, please resend to…” so someone else can deal with it.
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Not every vacation you take is going to leave you completely unreachable. For those days when you’re out of the office but are still checking and responding to email or phone calls, make sure your message explicitly states that people will still be able to reach you, and how:
Soldiers of the 353rd Infantry near a church at Stenay, Meuse in France, wait for the end of hostilities. This photo was taken at 10:58 a.m., on November 11, 1918, two minutes before the armistice ending World War I went into effect
I had a manager who did exactly that for his paternity leave. I was floored, because I never thought it was an option. His attitude was that if it was important enough, the person would send it again.
Yes! I would roll my eyes *a*lot* at that message – it comes across as someone taking themselves way too seriously.
› Url: https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-outofoffice-template-you-need-when-youre-only-taking-one-day-off Go Now
Sorry I missed you. I’ll be out of the office and slow to respond until after the break.
While you’re writing and activating your out of office message, avoid including the following:
1.) Herzlich willkommen bei Mustermann GmbH. Unsere Telefon-Hotline ist über die Festtage nicht besetzt. Genaue Öffnungszeiten erfahren sie auf unser Website unter www.mustermann.de - Wir bedanken uns für Ihr Vertrauen und wünschen Ihnen und Ihren Lieben erholsame Feiertage und ein gutes neues Jahr.
“This is MY NAME [from COMPANY] calling about REASON. Call me [by DAY/TIME] at (844) 387-6962 [pause, then repeat the number very slowly] that’s eight four four… three, eight, seven… six, nine, six, two.”
Not to mention, there are all sorts of oddball situations where you might wish you gave another option. No chance that a call from a big client, the CEO, or a supplier might get routed there? Not to mention enforcement agencies that are often “we sent the required notice to the contact info I was given” before they issue a citation or pull a license or tow the company van.
Well, but as others have pointed out, that depends on the part-time job and the industry. If you don’t work Tuesdays and Thursdays, but those are considered standard hours in your business, clients or other folks outside the office might email you on Tuesday morning with something important, not hear back and not know why — and get irritated. If they get an OOO, they now know what to expect or they have a backup option if the matter is urgent.
Image Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/hilarious-out-of-office-email-auto-replies
Agree that part time staff was odd to include here. I have no idea if you are part time. I don’t keep track of other people’s schedules. I would find it helpful to know you aren’t available the rest of the day in case I need something sooner.
If you’re going away on vacation, it’s very useful to set an automatic “out of office” reply for your emails. These automatic replies let people who email you know that you are not available to reply to their messages. Here’s how to set up an automatic out of office reply in the Microsoft Outlook desktop app and the web version.
Once I got an auto reply from a stakeholder on a project that said something to the effect of “Thanks for contacting me. Due to the large volume of email I receive, I don’t read them all. If I haven’t responded within 3 business days, please try again.”