That really does feel excessive. I think most people are savvy enough to think, ‘Huh, it’s late in the day for pretzelgirl, I might not get a response until tomorrow. Business as usual.’ Being out of communication for a day – travel, meetings, days off – doesn’t require an out of the office alert, either, just a response as soon as possible.
Completely unplugging from work? Good for you! Be sure to make this plan clear in your autoresponder so boundaries are set and no one expects any type of work-related correspondence while you’re away. Then, turn on SaneDoNotDisturb and enjoy an empty inbox for days.
.
The attendant menu for your main contact number may be the first form of contact that a customer has with your business. Make sure your greeting is clearly articulated. Provide an option to speak with an operator if the caller has a question that is not addressed by the menu options.
This might seem obvious, but make sure you clearly state and restate the dates you’ll be out of the office. Even if you put the dates in your subject line, you should also repeat them in the message body. It’s hard to over-communicate here. State exactly when you’ll be back, and whether or not you’ll be responding to calls and emails while you’re out. If you’re on the road but are responding to messages, let everyone know if you’ll be unavailable for an extended period (while on a flight, for example), if you’ll be in a different time zone, and in general, that they should expect a delay in response time. All in all, set realistic expectations and strive to be as specific as possible.
When you have to be away from work even for a day, you have to add an out of office message so the person who is looking for you will know that you will delay with your answer or to know who else can contact you.
I appreciate your email. Currently, I am out of the office but will return after (Date of Return). My access to email will be limited during this period of time.
Work LifeWork LifeWhy leaders aren’t powerful without this 1 thingWork LifeThis is what’s really behind the Great ResignationWork LifeWhy people believe false information and how to combat it, according to experts
Hi, I will be out of the office starting [MM/DD] through [MM/DD]. If you need immediate assistance during my absence, please contact [name] at [email] or [phone]. I will respond to your emails as soon as possible upon my return on [MM/DD].
Thank you for your message. I will be out of the office starting [start date] and returning [return date]. While I am [reason for absence], I will have limited email access.
For those of you arguing that entrepreneurs and salespeople must always be available, I present to you Exhibit A. While this is specific to Yesware (and you should check out their other OOO examples), it's easy enough to tweak to fit your industry.
But to set a vacation mode on the iPhone, it is better to select manually. This will give you more control to change the mode at any time.
Of course, managing a minute and a half response time isn’t so easily accomplished when you’re out of office, receiving hundreds of texts each hour, or shifting your attention to a different project.
It makes a positive difference when you create auto reply messages that adhere to the basic elements of personalized messages followed with greetings.
Website: https://www.themuse.com/advice/6-outofoffice-templates-for-the-holidays-that-you-can-copy-and-paste-now
I follow this TikTok account and she has a TON of these. I think it’s a culture thing. It would be inappropriate in many places but clearly it isn’t there.
We’re not saying you’re boring but you do work in a fairly serious corporate environment. As a result, your out of office needs to be quite to the point but you also like to throw in a little pitch too, you cheeky sod.
To set automatic out of office replies on the Microsoft Outlook desktop app, go to File > Automatic Replies > Send automatic replies.