I say “as soon as possible,” which to me means “as soon as possible after I get back to the office, make myself a coffee, throw out the milk I forgot in the fridge, chat with my colleagues a bit, check in with my boss, and triage all the new emails and VMs that came in while I was away.”
Which is why the workers who do have the ability, whether through place within the hierarchy or company culture, should not squander it. In fact, they should recognize the OOO as an opportunity to model and normalize organizational or even industry-wide guardrails (as opposed to bullshit feebly-maintained ‘boundaries’). It’s why, starting this summer, we need to embrace the blunt, descriptive OOO message.
.
Thank you for your note. I’m currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I’ll respond to your message then.
Have you ever considered how your office design could be having a negative impact on the way your employees work?
An out of office message is a compact text that conveys the most important facts:
The one exception: When I was out for a week and a half on my wedding/honeymoon, I included something about “Additionally, I am out of office getting married, so shortly after my return my name will change from Red Bookworm to Red Reader.”
I emailed this person 3 times and never got a response. Thankfully they weren’t upset when we moved forward without their input.
Yep. I work with people all over the US so I have no idea who is at home or actually in the office.
Scared of offending a coworker who may or may not celebrate the holidays? Worry not — I’ve got the perfect email for you. If this OOO message does anything particularly well, it's that it respects the differing views, religions, traditions, and opinions of your coworkers — while amusing so many others.
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There's no better feeling than Christmas approaching, but how do you achieve the perfect holiday... Get Your Office Into the Festive Spirit
Think about a soon-to-be-ex-colleague that really could do with some extra enquiries forwarded their way (call it 'paying it forward').
The person's message may not have reached you. Check your inbox to see if the message was received. Posted by: Jon Wiederspan - Sat, Aug 27, 2011 at 12:29 PM. How can I see shared Outlook calendars on my iPhone or iPad? How do I set up my NSD email on my iPhone or Android phone? How do I make an appointment without others seeing what it is? How do I add the District Events and Religious Holiday calendars to my calendar in Outlook? Print Article Email Article to Friend Export to PDF
We are here to help, so you can focus on your time off! The less time you spend on the operational bits and pieces, the more time you will have to do some awesome reading.
Remember that it’s important to choose the tone of your message based on the final recipient.
Our office will remain closed for Christmas. We assure you that all your emails will be answered as soon as we return to the office. Merry Christmas!
Our office will be closed today for the [holiday name]. We will reopen tomorrow morning at [time].