That would drive me mad. I’m okay with in meetings all day but if you’re just going home at a normal time that’s ridiculous!
But traveling for work, then I say “intermittent access” so that I only need to respond to the urgent emails and can ignore everything else for a few days.
.
Hello, Our office is closed for holidays from [date] through [date] and returning on [date]. Through this period we will not be able handle any enquiries. If you need immediate assistance, please contact [name] at [email] or call [phone number]. Otherwise we will respond to all emails as soon as possible once we return to the office. Warm regards.
My department still doesn’t allow us to send OOO auto-replies to external recipients because of one incident years ago (a customer tried to contact a sales rep about an urgent order, got the rep’s auto-reply, and in their ensuing panic, somehow got escalated all the way up to the company president). Any external emails we get are auto-forwarded to a centralized mailbox and (ostensibly) handled by another rep while we are out. It bothers me to know that my external contacts won’t get a reponse from me while I’m out and may think I’m just ignoring them.
The plan B is to send it again when they’re back though. I think there are a lot of situations where I emailed them and someone else from the start and someone else answered, or I found someone else in the 2 months span until they’re back, or did it myself, or it’s too late to help…. So it does help them avoid following up on things that don’t need following up on.
When you’re away on holiday, you might not want to receive business emails that will distract your attention. But, you most certainly still check your social media channels.
There is no option on the iPhone Mail app to set the vacation response for emails. However, like iCloud, most of the other email providers are also offering to set an automatic vacation response, including Gmail, Yahoo Mail, HotMail providers.
Remember, your email signature is as important to your company as all of your other corporate branding. Update any marketing promotional banners with seasonal offers. When the holiday season is over and your promos have finished, make sure you are no longer using a Christmas themed banner.
Hello, Our office is closed for holidays from [date] through [date] and returning on [date]. Through this period we will not be able handle any enquiries. If you need immediate assistance, please contact [name] at [email] or call [phone number]. Otherwise we will respond to all emails as soon as possible once we return to the office. Warm regards.
So, take a lesson from @courtwhip, editor at PEDESTRIAN.TV, who wrote the above hilarious out-of-office email, fully stocked with mentions of the best movies from the 1990s. (By the way, "Splinter" is from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and as we all know, he loves pizza.)
7. Out of Office for a Family Vacation. This is a great template to use if you’re on a family vacation. Hey (specify the Name field id), Thanks for your email.
SpecializationsOur FocusEngineeringCAD Design / DraftingInformation TechnologyRenewable EnergySoftware Developer Recruiting
We are closed today for the [public holiday name]. Our office will re-open tomorrow at am.
I think you talk to person X and ask them to cc you when they are dealing with things sent to them because of your OOO.
The United States Congress officially recognized the end of World War I when it passed a concurrent resolution on June 4, 1926, with these words:
It’s possible I might quote from some responses to this in an upcoming column, so please note if you don’t want me to do that with yours!
There are some types of work or office cultures where I think this makes sense. Sometimes enough people use OOO messages for work travel, conferences, and similar that getting the OOO doesn’t really mean you won’t get a response until the date specified. It can help to clarify.