I’d side-eye if an OOO for a couple of days off said that, unless someone was in an unusually time-sensitive role. But if someone’s out for long enough that there’s an alternate contact provided, that’s long enough for them not to be wading through missed emails when they get back.
The one from “Central Intelligence” with the Rock that I love is is (paraphrasing) :
.
Using autoresponder emails when you are not available at the office is a part of the professional communication between business associates. That said, you should be careful about the information you are sharing in your OOO messages.
This is an automatic reply. Thank you very much for your email. I am currently on holiday until [date], I will not be able to respond to your emails promptly until I am back to the office. In the event that you need an urgent response, please call the office directly on: 1) Office Lines (Working Hours, Monday-Sunday + 3GMT): [Tel Numbers]
Which is why the workers who do have the ability, whether through place within the hierarchy or company culture, should not squander it. In fact, they should recognize the OOO as an opportunity to model and normalize organizational or even industry-wide guardrails (as opposed to bullshit feebly-maintained ‘boundaries’). It’s why, starting this summer, we need to embrace the blunt, descriptive OOO message.
I know you’re just blowing off steam, but the problem is that you’re working 65 hour weeks, not that they get proper time off! If labour laws were fair everywhere we could all have a proper uninterrupted rest.
The best solution, in my experience, is for the person covering your work to cc’ you on responses to the forwarded request. Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain* June 3, 2021 at 11:27 am
People often forget the power of an out of office message. One could even start their own language, as shown below:
I wish I’d copied it, but once a co-worker in sales had an out of office that was long and rambling and talked about how she and her family were “going to visit Mickey.” I didn’t know what to make of it, especially since it could go to prospective clients.
And a darn good one... we hire brilliant people, provide extensive training, and develop one of a kind experiences.
› Url: https://www.thehrdigest.com/on-vacation-out-of-office-email-message-examples/ Go Now
COMPLETELY agree. Every time I see an OOO for a two-hour doctor’s appointment I have to fight the urge to reply with “How much are you paid?” because I know there is no scenario in which I would have to explain myself if I don’t answer an email for a few hours and if you are that important you better make a LOT more than I do.
That said, I promised my wife that I am going to try to disconnect, get away and enjoy our vacation as much as possible. So, I’m going to experiment with something new. I’m going to leave the decision in your hands:
we had something similar at one phone-heavy place I used to work and it was actually extremely useful – everyone set their voicemail when they got in, and people would include if they were offsite (so worth ringing their mobile) or likely to be otherwise unreachable, and who to contact if your query was urgent. only took a minute to set, and was super useful to me as someone who had to talk to maybe 10-20 people on the phone in a day.
16. "Hmm. Gryffindor … No, Ravenclaw. Yes, you definitely belong in Ravenclaw. *Pause.* Okay, you haven't reached the Sorting Hat — it's the voicemail of [your name]. Please leave your name and number (and just for fun, the Harry Potter house you think you belong in) and I'll return your call as soon as possible."
Though you were ending with a “for everything else, there’s Mastercard” for a moment!
Feel free to share some examples of auto-reply messages that you have used or such that you’ve received. Include those in the comments below, and we can have a chat.