Q. If I need help activating a new phone or another type of phone service from Rocket Wireless during winter break, will I be able to reach someone?
Front makes it easy to save vacation responders and turn them on and off. If you're not on Front (yet!) here's how to save one in Gmail or Outlook. Then just copy your message into your vacation responder, rest assured your emails will get a response, and hit that glorious "Sign out" button.
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When Amy Spurling, cofounder of the company perks software company Compt, went on vacation, she ended her message with a clear direction about who to contact: “If you need immediate help, please contact [name and email address]. I will be responding to all emails on my return.”
Hi there, Thank you for reaching out! We are currently in the middle of our busy season so our reply may be delayed up to three days. We appreciate your patience while we look into this for you! Thank you.
There’s nothing awful or offensive about this message, but it’s also not very good. Yes, it provides the courtesy of letting the sender nominally know that you’re going to be slower than usual to respond. That’s nice. The problem is in this bit: “may be slow to respond to email.” Another popular variation: “might be slower than usual to respond.”
Rather than sounding like a boring email robot, you could add a funny tone to your letter. Use a GIF or a meme to joke about what you’re doing on vacation, but remember not to go overboard.
On the Inside My Organization tab, type the response that you want to send to teammates or colleagues while you are out of the office.
I am out of the office July 15–25. In the event of an emergency, please contact Yuko Kawakami at [email protected].
There are a million reasons why people feel the need to sheepishly telegraph that they’ll be checking email while OOO: a toxic workplace culture; a set of bad managers who don’t model work/life balance or use manipulative tactics like saying, ‘feel free to take some time if you need it’; companies that are so focused on lean growth they don’t have anyone to pick up the slack when an employee opts to take time off. These days, merely having the confidence to step away from your job by taking the vacation time granted to you in the terms of your employment agreement is still a privilege in the American workforce.
If you want your message to be formal, avoid using contracted forms such as I’m and I’ll as well as informal or casual language. It’s also a good idea to start your message with an expression of thanks like: If your audience isn’t from your work environment, you could take a risk with something more fun and personalised:
Hello, Please note: [date] through [date] are company holidays for many of our employees. Because of this, there will likely be a delay to request, possibly until [date] when most of our team returns. In the case where you do not receive an initial reply from one of our employees, their subsequent replies may be delayed. We have received your email request and will process it soon. While we process your request, please make sure to check out our extensive list of documentation by clicking on this link: [link]. Thank you for choosing [company name], and we look forward to providing a smooth and seamless support experience for you. Thanks!
I work at an animal shelter and I have included a picture of an adoptable pet when I’m on vacation – I don’t know if that comes across as annoying or not, what do you think? Basically, it’s “I’m out until X and I’ll return your message when I get back. In the meantime, take a look at Fluffiekins here (picture, link to bio). Will she be adopted before I return?”
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.
I use a basic OOO message – “Hi! I’m out of the office x date(s). I will return your email when I’m back at my computer on x date. If you have an urgent matter, please contact x or y. Have a nice weekend/holiday/etc!/Thanks!” My office WANTS us to use more personal and witty OOO messages like this article’s message. And that stresses me out. I don’t want to spend time worried about whether my OOO is witty. I don’t want to annoy other people just looking for basic info like when am I back and who they can contact in the meantime. I correspond a lot with third parties on serious matters (legal), and I don’t think a message like that is appropriate. So, I just keep using my basic message and hope my supervisor’s supervisor doesn’t email me and see that I’m not “trying.” Ugh.
Q. If I am not impacted by this winter break schedule (because I work at UTMC, for instance), do I receive additional paid days off per year?
If you’re feeling stuck, try our free OOO email generator to draft a message that perfectly captures who you are and where you’re going. Out-of-Office Messages for Vacation 1. “I’ll email you back once I’ve defrosted.”
I’ve named the conference I was attending a couple of times in my out of office. That particular conference is a big enough deal in my field that some of the people emailing me were probably also in attendance, which made it worth specifying, in addition to setting expectations about email response times and overall availability.