When I was in university I set my voicemail to, “Hi, you’ve reached Krabby. I’m unable to come to the phone right now, but please DON’T leave me a message. They cost me like, 50 cents each. Mom, this is mostly for you because everyone else knows to text me instead like a normal human being.”
Or, worse, when someone has left the organization and the organization hasn’t bothered to put up an OOO, so I’m just emailing a blackhole until I call or someone finally checks that inbox. I never fail to set up my OoO reply, and yet most of my external contacts don’t get them. Let’s say I work for LlamaCombs, with an name(@)llamacombs.com address, and this is a company who has two clients AlpacaBrush and VicunaShampoo. I work primarily with the second, and their internal directory lists my contact info as name(@)vicunashampoo.com. It works because any e-mail sent to the second address is auto-forwarded to the first. Except it messes up OoO replies big time. Because the auto-reply is sent to my own alternate address, not to the original sender, and I have no way to change that.
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does this work when you turn your phone off entirely? like if i set up an auto-reply to texts and then turn my phone off, will people get that response? i am about to travel internationally & would love to have this set up for when i’m off the grid & my phone is off.
I did something similar the second time I took maternity leave, actually. I didn’t explicitly say, “I will delete all emails,” but instead I shared my backups’ contact info and invited people to contact me again when I was back from leave.
The office is closed today for the Public Holiday. We will resume normal office hours from tomorrow morning. Enjoy your day off!
Whenever you need to step away from the office and won't be able to respond to emails as quickly as you usually do, it is good practice to create an out-of-office email autoresponder to guide your email correspondents on how to reach you, who else to contact, and/or what to do next.
I once worked somewhere that required an all-office email if you were going to be late, if you had an appointment, etc. I hated that. No one needed to know I was going to the dentist, but it was policy so I did it.
Take note of this holiday checklist so you are prepared for the Christmas wind down. Remember that your office is your and your employees’ second home. Having these precautions done will give everyone a stress-free holiday break.
It’s your last day before the vacation starts, you are rushing through your to-do list and suddenly you realize- I need to write an OOO email!
Please note on [date], is [holiday name]. Our stores will be closed all day and will open at [time] on [date]. Have a wonderful holiday!
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Whether you're taking a personal or business trip, keep in mind that information contained in your OOO message could be used against you maliciously. Be sure to follow out-of-office message best practices to keep your company data secure. Create different out-of-office replies based on whether the message is going to someone inside or outside your company Avoid personal details Don't share your travel destination Don't provide direct insight into the chain of command Avoid listing your exact length of vacation
I set mine for long meetings (half a day or a whole day) or if I’m traveling. I do have clients who email about time sensitive issues and it’s better for everyone if they know I might not see their message for a few hours.
I worked with a guy years ago who would update his voicemail greeting literally every time he left the office.
5.) Dear customers, our office will be closed from December 24 through January 2. You can reach us as usual on Monday 5 January. We wish you and your family a merry christmas and a happy and successful new year..
Obviously, I need to update it. And if you haven't changed your voicemail greeting in over a year, you're likely in the same boat.
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