Be aware of your tone. Keep it clean and simple. Sullivan says: “Even if you work in a casual office environment, the people emailing you may not. It's fine to have a light tone in your communications, especially when you're in an email conversation with someone directly, but your OOO is more of a blast message—including a cat meme or silly quote could backfire if your OOO goes to, say, a new client prospect or the sales director at a company you've been trying to engage.”
Oh my gosh, yes! This also drives me crazy. The game of emailing 15 people because they are all out and pointing to each other as their back up. Infuriating.
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Have you sent a proper farewell email to the whole office, thanking everyone and wishing them well?
Hi, I am currently out of the office from [MM/DD] to [MM/DD]. I will do my best to respond promptly to your email when I return. Please contact [name] at [email] or [phone] for any urgent matters.
I agree! I’m in HR and all I can think of when I see funny OOO’s from people is, “How big of an a$$ are you going to feel when someone emails you about needing time off for a funeral and they get this nonsense back?”
We had to do this at my prior position so that agents knew that we were in the office that specific day. Now i dont even use my phone as most internal people call me on Teams.
This used to drive my supervisor crazy, she’d email me “it looks like your OOO is still on.” I had to explain the rationale a few times before she understood.
An out-of-office message is an effective way to inform people why you are not responding to their calls or messages and when they can expect a response. This information saves them from getting frustrated and avoids any negative impression from the inability to respond. If you have long-term relationships with your customers, such an auto-response system is highly significant as it avoids any inconvenience.
There were a lot of bilingual staff at my last job, and they always did their out of office messages in both languages. But who knows, maybe the Welsh translator was in a rush and forgot. An agency that handles government translations like road signs might be expected have such rules. On the other hand, never underestimate the boneheadedness of the monolinguals. Especially English ones.
OMG if I got this OOO message I would pee my pants laughing! I think its brilliant! (But perhaps thats my weirdness popping out again… shoo shoo get back)
The recipient may have filtering turned on that would reject the automatic reply;
You may not think it, but an auto-attendant is an important part of your business. It is typically the first point of contact with your customers, as they will call your main number with sales inquiries, troubleshooting questions, etc.
I’m tempted to make out a “SUPER DUPER HELPFUL COWORKER” certificate to hand to them.
I do this because my industry’s norm is that people check their email on vacation, at least once or twice, but I don’t do it. I don’t have work email on my phone so it’s technically true.
It is absolutely no one’s business why you are out! “Extended leave” is more than sufficient.
Hello! I am off for the weak on the beach, convincing myself that science is right when it says shark attacks are rare. I’ll be shore to get back to you, but your email may get swallowed by my inbox – or, you know, sharks. Please add all finished lists on the board as you would regularly and see [NAME] if you have any questions. If its pressing, send to [EMAIL]. If it’s not, and you’re just bored, here are some facts you might find interesting: ___
The email I send out always says something along the lines of “I’ll be away Thursday and Friday, so if you need anything from me, please let me know before noon on Wednesday. Thanks!”