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“Ahoy landlubbers, Dr Pirate [Myname] is back again to get her second eye done.
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Writing an effective out-of-office message is a key part of running any business. Although it may seem so simple, an incomplete or unclear out-of-office message will cause problems before you leave as well as when you return.
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Remember to make sure your auto-reply has a limit to how often it sends replies to any one address. If they reply to every single email they recieve, they can cause problems: https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport/comments/420oan/companywide_email_30000_employees_autoresponders/ I actually had that happen while I was on vaca, a travel agency e-mailed me with an update about my vacation from a no-reply mail box and triggered my auto reply, which triggered their “This is not a monitored mailbox” auto reply to the tune of 80,000 messages in my mailbox. It completely filled up my “available” space, so everytime I logged in and thought I had them cleared out, more would pour in. It took DAYS to delete all of them.
Website: https://purelovemessages.com/office-closed-for-holiday-message-template/
At my old job, you used to nominate a contact for when you were out of the office and there wasn’t an obvious person to contact. One department was so small that they all just put the all team email so they never had to change it. Trouble is, it turns out Outlook team emails by default only accept internal messages :X
Co-sign. HATE THAT. We use Outlook and there’s a banner across the top that says AUTOMATIC REPLIES ARE BEING SENT. Just click the button to stop them!
I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m really tired of the ones that are basically “I’m in a meeting for an hour and I’ll check my messages when I return.”
Happy holidays, and thanks for your email! I’m taking a few days off to spend time with my family and friends so I won’t be answering emails as quickly as usual. (Source: Futureofworking.com) Trying not to laugh at my [relative’s] corny jokes Attempting to explain my career to my [relative] for the 800th time Getting buzzed on too many mugs of eggnog (hey, can you blame me?)
The only thing I add to that boilerplate is if I’m working but mostly unavailable.
An out of office message is a compact text that conveys the most important facts:
14. "Hello, you've reached the Sales Department at [Company name]. All of our representatives are currently helping clients [insert goal such as, 'achieve 40% growth through streamlining HR operations'] and are unable to take your call. Please leave your name, company, and phone number and we'll give you a call back ASAP. Thank you!"
A former coworker used to always include a kitten picture when she submitted invoices.
Q. Will students who want to enroll or receive information from various departments be able to talk with someone during winter break?
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: