I feel like this is the only reason to do this, otherwise its just a big piss off.
I have a colleague who directs people to email an alternative email alias when she’s on leave. This alternative email alias? Yup goes to her. Don’t know why she does it. She’s also set a rule in her team that they have to answer each others’ phones of someone is away from their desk. Inevitably, the person answering the phone can’t help and tells the caller to send an email. It drives me up the wall.
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Thank you so much for your email. I love it already. It’s wrapped so nicely in its charming subject line that I just knew this message was going to be something special. Gifts like these just don’t come around every day.
Thanks for your email. I’m currently offline, returning on [date]. I’ll respond to your message then.
Your out-of-office message needs to set expectations around communication. First, provide information about when you’ll return. Misner suggests giving yourself an extra date to catch up.
If the person keeps you on the message thread in which they then contact someone else (ideally, the person you stated in your out of office message as the one who’s handling urgent issues in your absence), you are literally kept in the loop and can see for yourself that all was handled when you get back. Of course, this works even better if you check the most recent items in your inbox first when you get back.
A ‘Type A’ who can’t ever fully switch-off from work… at least they’re honest about it!
There's a term that we like to use around here called "snowbirds," which is used to describe those who once resided in the northern part of the U.S., only to flee to warmer parts of the country during the winter.
I had a colleague that managed to set up a rule for an OOO that would only get sent if you cc’d or bcc’d him, which basically said that all those cc mails would get automatically put in a separate folder and he may or may not ever read them – may the odds be ever in your favor basically.
Hey there! I’m on holiday right now. I’ll try to reply to your message ASAP. Talk to you later!
When you’ve finally powered your way through that seemingly endless to-do list and are ready to check out of work-mode once and for all, there’s one final thing you need to take care of: Setting your out-of-office response.
When people leave first name contact only as if we’re supposed to know who Susan or Frank are..
My pet peeve is OOOs for the afternoon/an appointment when the person who set it up is NOT good at responding to emails in a timely fashion. If someone usually requires multiple reminders and follow up emails for me to get a reply to an email after 2 weeks, I don’t really need a notification that their responses will be delayed an hour until they get back from the doctor. It makes me think “who are you responding to that quickly, and why can’t you reply to me that fast??”
As a person who hates voicemail, I applaud this. Send me an email. Give me a paper trail.
People are naturally impatient, and when they are looking for answers to their questions, they want them as soon as possible. That’s why some recipients of your auto-reply messages won’t be happy if they just get some information that you are gone and have to wait for your return. In such cases, you need to provide an alternative point of contact for urgent matters.
Note: If you don't see the Automatic Replies button, follow the steps to use rules to send an out of office message.