When you’ve finally powered your way through that seemingly endless to-do list and are ready to check out of work mode once and for all, there’s one final thing you need to take care of: setting your out-of-office response.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in December 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness. Recent Posts 38 Account-Based Marketing Stats to Know in 2021 The Top Business Podcasts You Need to Be Listening To How Advertisers are Navigating iOS 14’s Mobile Tracking Changes How Google’s Head of Startups LATAM Helps Brands Globalize Their Business [+Tips for Marketers] 278 Social Media Holidays for Your 2021 Content Calendar [+Template]
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Mine said this when I was in the hospital and I didn’t know if I’d be back in two weeks or six.
I used to hire a lot (hundreds) of freelance writers who would each be given a deadline by which their particular project was due. As these were large projects, they typically would have several months to complete them. I soon discovered that a significant number of freelancers (at least 25% if I’m remembering correctly) would email a couple of days before their assignment was due to report the sad news that they would be missing their deadline because “someone close to [them] had just died”.
“Hi, Thank you for contacting me. I’m currently out of the office for a conference and will not be available until [date]. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.”
Website: https://www.themuse.com/advice/6-outofoffice-templates-for-the-holidays-that-you-can-copy-and-paste-now
I agree that the reasons are not relevant. But at my last company, a coworker had overly short out of office messages. Examples: “out of office today.” Or “out of office until Monday.” With no additional information about coverage, etc. Those always felt overly curt to me and made me wonder, is this person okay? Was this OOO planned or are they on the verge of a mental breakdown? (It was a very toxic culture so this wasn’t out of the question). I would be curious to hear others perspectives on this. Is too little information just as bad?
But nope, we’ve created a world where “I have a dentist appointment and won’t be in until 10 today” is cause for alarm.
Explain why you're out. No need to go into great detail that you're traveling to seven different European countries. Simply state whether you're on vacation, at a conference, or on a business trip.
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Even the most blunt Out Of Office responders can still offer some levity or can at least entertain. If you’re looking to spice up your OOO, try this wonderful Wikipedia OOO generator that Melody Joy Kramer and Alex Hollender built. It auto-generates an OOO response with either a link or a quote pulled from Wikipedia. It’s a cool little project and a nice starter template for you when you decide to tell everyone to buzz off and leave you alone for a bit.
Our auto-replies to outside people are two or three paragraphs long though, which feels ridiculous but is actually necessary.
That’s it. That’s all. Simple and to the point, this message will let people know that you can’t respond to messages.
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