Given free rein, I’d absolutely love to tell people that needing me to show them how to do X in Excel is actually not a vacation-interrupting emergency and there are tons of free videos that would explain that, if they did not want to contact the actual departments who handle tech support and training. Or that this project they’ve known about for a month but decided to keep under their hat until it became an emergency is something they’ll need to resolve themselves. But that would not fly at all.
I think there must have been a discussion about this here in December, because when I recently came to set my OoO recently there was some previous wording along the lines of “I will be spending time with my family during the festive season and will not be checking my email until (date)”. I’m annoyed with myself for deleting it without saving it somewhere, because it was much better worded than that and I’d like to be able to use it again!
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Agreed! A bit of warmth is fine, sure, but it’s not the place for chattiness — that’s for talking to an actual person. I want an OOO message to tell me that the person is out, when they’ll be back, and who I should contact in the meantime if need be. No objections to multiple options there, whether it’s “X for llama grooming issues and Y for llama tea parties” or “X for routine questions, Y if it’s urgent, Z if it’s an emergency,” but I want to be able to absorb the useful info quickly and move on.
5. 5 The Friendly Professional. Season’s Greetings! Thanks for getting in touch. I’m out of the office enjoying the holidays until [date]. I’ll respond as quickly as I can when the festivities are over and I’m back at my desk.
Of course he presumably meant working on a trial – yay for regional preposition differences!
Our office will be closed on Monday, May 25th in observance of Memorial Day. We will reopen on Tuesday, May 26th at 8:00 a.m.
I’ll be 1 percent connected while on vacation so I’m not 100 percent panicked on return. Thank you for emailing me.
Now that you know what you should and shouldn’t include, how do you go about crafting the perfect out-of-office vacation message?
I don’t know what to say these days – I’m still working from home so “out of the office” doesn’t sound right any more, but ‘off work’ seems like too much? I’m probably way overthinking it but I’ve felt stuck every time I need to write one lately.
It’s really only meant as a courtesy but if your culture is different I can see where it’s eye-roll y.
Creativity is thinking outside the inbox when it comes to email marketing, and this email took it way too seriously, for good. Instead of assigning a task to the receiver, this auto-reply asks the sender to complete a survey on which is the best flick from the Die Hard franchise. Any Bruce Wills fan here? Let us know your choice in the comments!
I work with such a person. So instead of something like “I’m writing to ask if you would graciously consider serving on our committee”, she will send a message along the lines of: “I am graciously writing to ask you to serve on our committee.”
Sample voicemail message for office or department: “Thank you for calling The University of Toledo’s (office/department). The University is closed for winter break. Please call back after New Year’s Day or visit our website at (website URL). Thank you and happy holidays.”
I am on annual leave until dd/mm/yyyy. I will allow each sender one email and if you send me multiple emails, I will randomly delete your emails until there is only one remaining. Choose wisely. Please note that you have already sent me one email.
Research shows that vacations are beneficial to our physical and mental health, work performance, and productivity. To replicate this research, I’m conducting a participant observation study until DATE, and will be out of the office. In the interim, if you have an urgent request, please reach out to EMPLOYEE. Otherwise, I’ll be in touch upon my return.
Thank you for your msg. I am currently out of the office and will not return until November 10th.
My husband’s voice mails says “…if you need immediate assistance call Mary at ####…”, only Mary retired something like eight years ago. I mention this to him every once in a while. It hasn’t changed.