Proof that some people just Don’t Get It: in response to my out of office voicemail message directing callers to contact my co-worker for anything urgent, a woman left the following message on MY voicemail: “Co-worker, I am having this issue, blah, blah, blah. Please call me at X.” Yeah, I–not co-worker–got the message a week later when I returned.
She, if I recall, had a few comments from people when she got back regarding her words (she was on annual leave on holiday, it wasn’t a family emergency or anything that might excuse the tone). It rubbed quite a few people up the wrong way (most of them parents themselves!). Don’t recall more of an outcome though, I wasn’t at that firm long.
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Thank you so much for your email. I love it already. It’s wrapped so nicely in its charming subject line that I just knew this message was going to be something special. Gifts like these just don’t come around every day.
Careful. Holiday revelry and debauchery ahead. Proceed with caution (if you dare).
Yeah, that’s not enough to stress over. Try coming back to tens of thousands after parental leave.
A good out-of-office email reply incorporates the following elements: The exact dates of your time off — If you are simply re-activating the message you used Typos — Your out-of-office message could go to anyone, from your manager to your top client. Avoid embarrassment by proofreading it carefully.It is also a good time to start doing daily good deeds. Happy holidays. “May the arrival of Christmas fill your heart with joy when you feel that by sharing with your loved ones an atmosphere of love and peace reigns because each of you carries God in your hearts.”
I’m glad I’m not the only one who thought it was funny and not annoying! I’m with Alison that it’s probably just a little wordy, but there’s no problem with the humor.
Chances are you’ll be checking email while you’re on vacation. Almost two-thirds of travelers do, according to a poll by travel agency Travel Leaders Group. But just because you can’t unplug doesn’t mean your coworkers and clients need to know. In fact, you’d probably prefer that they leave you alone so you can enjoy your getaway on your own terms.
Yeah, announcing you were going to delete emails unread and expecting the sender to resend when you return would NEVER fly in my office. I’d get executive complaints about that, especially if it went to a client or outside party – if a client can’t reach you, they will reach out to someone else who may not work at your organization and you lose business. I feel like this delete-it-all philosophy would only work for an entirely internal role where timelines are more relaxed, and even then, I feel it’s a bit unprofessional to foist your own catch-up work onto others, especially if they’ve been backfilling for you while you were OOO.
While I won’t be quite as far as the North Pole, I will still be completely disconnected from my inbox until my return. So, if you require immediate assistance, please send your email to [contact name] at [contact email].
And yet regardless of your job description, the humble OOO can do much more besides simply telling people not to expect a prompt reply. Crafted subtly enough, it can even drum up business for you. While they wait for you to respond, perhaps they’d like to check out your new website or sign up for your monthly newsletter?
As CEO of a company, it is customary to send out organization-wide holiday wishes to all employees. If you are feeling stumped on what to say, check out these warm holiday greetings that you can send to your team.
To create a new OOO template from scratch, go to Settings → Smart Tools → Templates, click + Add Template, and select Out-of-Office from the menu.
I think in an industry/company culture where that kind of responsiveness is expected/normal, that makes a lot of sense!
When I worked in a federally-regulated industry that required drug testing, we always tended to say “our drug program” when we should have been saying, “drug abatement program.”