My pet peeves are too much personal information (no need to tell me your cousin had a hysterectomy) and the ones that are carbon dated, e.g. from 2018.
President Eisenhower signing HR7786, changing Armistice Day to Veterans Day. From left: Alvin J. King, Wayne Richards, Arthur J. Connell, John T. Nation, Edward Rees, Richard L. Trombla, Howard W. Watts
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Q. Before I leave my office for winter break, are there things I should do to safeguard my work area?
If I am out of office for more than one day, I will update my email out of office message “I am out of the office with limited access to email until {X date}. Please direct any questions to {support department email}.”
I had a coworker that (pre-covid) had an out of office set up any time she worked from home. She didn’t operate any differently than when she was in the office, and there wasn’t any information in the message, just “FYI I’m wfh today”. It was weird to keep getting those messages, since her working from home had zero effect on your correspondence with her.
Exactly. It doesn’t matter if I’m sitting on the beach, on my couch, or in a hospital bed–I’m not reachable and you’re gonna have to wait until I get back or contact someone else.
Thank you for your email. I am no longer with [company name]. Please direct enquiries to [insert name and email] or [insert name and email].
"I'll be out of the office from Monday, 12/14, and will be back on Monday, 12/21."
If there is an emergency, please email [email protected] and someone will contact you as soon as possible.
I like funny OOO – but I am a bad offender regarding these and may slightly overshare. I recently had to be in and out for eye surgery and this was mine:
A. Employees should take this time off to relax and recharge before spring semester commences. However, if you cannot take winter break because of research, for instance, you are not prohibited from working. All designated service areas must be pre-approved by senior leadership. If your work area cannot close during winter break, employees who work on a designated winter break day will have the opportunity to use the additional days off provided by the University at another time during the year. However, the winter break days must be used by June 30, 2021.
Please contact (Contact Person with email and phone) if you need immediate assistance.
I had a coworker that (pre-covid) had an out of office set up any time she worked from home. She didn’t operate any differently than when she was in the office, and there wasn’t any information in the message, just “FYI I’m wfh today”. It was weird to keep getting those messages, since her working from home had zero effect on your correspondence with her.
8. "Hi, you've reached [your name]. I'm unable to come to the phone right now. But if you leave your name, number, and a short message, I'll be sure to call back."
You should use your out of office email whenever you’re going to be away from the office – whether it’s for a day, a week, or even longer.
Yeah, I have to agree. It’s a lot of explaining of things that are likely to be obvious to many people, as though they haven’t considered these options, but that they have to sit through anyway in order to get the information they need about who to contact. And the people who most need to listen to it probably won’t.
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.