I mean, this is what I pretty much did upon returning from my maternity leaves but I would never put it into an email! My maternity leave OOO was the vague “I am on extended leave and am not anticipated to return until X. Please contact Joe or Fergus in my absence.” X being a vague time-frame based on my due date and the length of my leave. No one is waiting 3+ months for an answer so I did get to delete most of the 500 emails I got during my most recent leave! I did once have someone internal tell me I should say maternity leave rather than leave, but really, what does it matter? I’m gone for a few months and no one outside of the company really NEEDS to know why.
Yeah. The overly cute OOO message reminds me of the overly cute messages people used to leave on their answering machines back in the day. “Hi, this is Jim. Hello? *pause* Hello? Is anyone there? *pause* Just kidding, I’m the one who’s not here! Please leave a message after the beep.” or whatever. Like, it’s funny the first time, then it’s just annoying. Just let people know what they need to know.
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So many people emailed Ryan that Aviation Gin's servers crashed. Here's his July 2018 out of office message:
If you set up a vacation reply but people say they are not getting the reply, it could be one of the following:
Glad to see that you figured out. Yes, you have to turn on DND Mode manually from Control Center.
1.) Welcome to John Doe. Our telephone hotline is not occupied over the holidays. Our office hours can be found on our website at www.joendoe.de - Thank you for your confidence. We wish you and your loved ones happy holidays and a happy new year.
Click the cog and select ‘Automatic replies’Select ‘Send automatic replies’Specify a time periodWrite your out of office emailConfirm other details and press ‘OK’
I am currently on my annual leave and will return to the office on *date*. If your request is urgent, please contact my colleague *name* at *email* or *phone*.
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Here's an auto-reply I created for my support account having some fun. But also throwing out an extra lifeline on the off chance I'm eaten by a bear. If the boss doesn't notice I'm missing, surely people emailing me will, right?
I’ll be back in front of my computer on [date] and will respond to your message at that time. If you need immediate assistance, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email] so that the other elves in this workshop can help you out.
Student emails at 3am Saturday morning, then is sends an email Sunday night, miffed you didn’t reply.
The only thing I add to that boilerplate is if I’m working but mostly unavailable.
It’s my favorite time of year, which means I’m currently out of the office chugging mugs of cocoa, stuffing my face with cookies, and attempting to fulfill my life-long goal of memorizing every single line of [your favorite holiday movie].
Many professional out of office messages are aimed towards providing a direct line of communication by notifying your absence and providing an alternative i am currently out of the office, with limited no access to email.
My fav is the one I got that was “I’ve retired and I won’t be checking this account EVER AGAIN!”
When one of my colleagues is out of the office, he doesn't mess around. In fact, he's turned his auto-responses into a running series of commentary from fictional cartoon character Troy McClure.