Having easy access to your work even when you away from the office doesn’t mean you don’t take time to disconnect and relax for a while. You deserve to take a break, muting all the mailboxes and switching off your work phone for a couple of days or weeks. However, there is a lot you should put in place before going away from your office, in the true sense.
I worked with a guy years ago who would update his voicemail greeting literally every time he left the office.
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Hello and thank you for calling, [Company Name], where [state your short company slogan]. If you know the extension of the party you are trying to reach, you may dial it at any time. To speak with a Sales representative, press 1. To reach a Customer Support agent, press 2. To reach our Billing department, press 3. If you would like to know our regular business hours and location, press 4. If you would like to speak with an Operator, press 0, or press 9 to repeat the available options. 2. Basic Customer Inquiry
Generally, people will indicate that they will reply to the email when they return.
“Ideally, an OOO should include the basics,” says work and wellbeing psychologist Kate Sullivan. “The dates you'll be gone, an approximate timeline for when someone can expect to hear back from you upon your return, and how any urgent requests will be handled in your absence.”
But the best OOO (actually, an autoreply) came from Ryan Reynolds – you know, the actor and gin company owner. If you emailed him, you got this (I think there were others too – this is the one I got): Thank you for your interest in Aviation American Gin! You’ve reached my Out Of Office Mission Statement.
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Q. Will students who want to enroll or receive information from various departments be able to talk with someone during winter break?
You kicked off this week hard, meeting deadlines, delivering year-end results, tying up loose ends, and getting a jump-start on 2018 initiatives. With a sigh of relief you’re beaming with excitement for holiday cookie decorating, quirky family Christmas traditions, and sweet S-L-O-W mornings sipping coffee and relaxing (read: Netflix binge)… It’s time to wrap up the computer, well, save the paper for your presents, and set your out of the office message. We’re here to help.
You can configure automated reply messages to encourage customers to submit their queries.
However, when I email the backup person I also cc the original person. If the issue gets totally resolved, the original person is well aware. If the issue is not resolved, the original person can pick it up pretty easily.
Here are some samples and templates of automatic reply messages across various scenarios.
Use this response if you’re in a millennial workforce or you want to seem ‘down with the kids’. Or if you spend way too much time on Twitter. hitting your inbox between [date] and [date]; got sent to you unusually quickly and; is the same response no matter how many times you email;
Dear Customer, Please note that all company offices will be closed from [date]. We will reopen on [date] We wish you the best holiday. Regards, [Company name]
After X enjoyable years, I do not work at [company] any more. Please contact [insert name and email] for enquiries relating to [subjects], or myself at [email] for personal matters.
Naturally, you want to help your clients and other business associates to contact you in the best and easiest way possible. For that to happen, you should provide out of office messages when you are not available.
I’d just stick with “I will be OOO without access to phone or email from XX/YY to XX/YY, returning on XX/YY.” And then whatever directions for directing to your support/backup while you are out. I find that specifically saying ‘without access to phone or email’ sets a good expectation of non-response.