Voicemail is also horrible for non-native speakers. I’m reasonably fluent in German but have to listen to voicemails at least 3 times to get everything. Why people can’t just type a text message is beyond me.
What Should Your Vacation Message Include?A subject, with the dates you leave and returnWho to contact in an emergency (name, email, and phone number)Point of contact for non-urgent inquiries (name, email, and phone number)Keep Your Message Professional
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When you’re away from the office, it’s important that people know where they can reach you. This is especially true for those who work with you on a regular basis. If you have an email address or phone number listed as “out of office,” then everyone knows how and when to contact you. But what should go into this note?
Not an OOO issue but the comment about PTSD from OldJob reminded me of this. I am a recreational sailor who often made longer offshore trips as my vacation. OldBoss INSISTED that we provide contact instructions. Mine was some variant of “Dial O and ask for the Marine Operator. Give them [name of boat], [call sign] and [approximate location by date] along with your name and credit card number. We will be monitoring Channel 16 at these times…..” Never got a call. Word spread and there was a sudden epidemic of sailing vacations in my office!
My bank still does that, and it seems to serve a good purpose there–I appreciate knowing if I should call someone else to get things done that day.
I just want short and sweet. Mine says, “I will be out of the office until X Date. If you need assistance before then, please contact my department at [email protected] or (000)000-0000. I will reply to messages when I return.”
Going back to how some people can’t ever switch off, this person went above and beyond for their auto-email with a humorous graph that very accurately shows the highs and lows of stress levels before, during and after time away.
If there is an emergency, please email [email protected] and someone will contact you as soon as possible.
Honestly, I like when people do this. I think it’s straightforward and it makes it clear that I still am in ownership of the problem (as opposed to wondering whether the other person has/will see it and what their timeline is).
Here are the 25 best office closed for holiday message templates that are professional. ----- Our office will remain closed until the end of this week for Thanksgiving …
I suppose it’s better than a colleague of mine who’s out of office is always: “I am out of the office until XXX. Please email me if you need assistance.”
YES. I was actually just going to go on the weekend thread and ask if I was the only one that really hates this term.
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.
The OOO definitely has those two pieces. But it could be 1 of 4 people who handle things when I’m out (depending on what it is) and they may not know at all that the requestor had reached out to me first / forget to cc me. So, I’d see this as me adding to my OOO “if you contact person X, please keep me cc’ed on the message you send to person x”?
Hah! Maternity/parental leave is often 1 year here, so there is zero expectation you will read or “catch up” afterwards. We keep our email addresses during where I work (Canadian government), so it’s standard to put an OOO that just says “on parental leave. Please contact X instead” with no reference to actually reviewing any of those emails, and often not even a projected date of return since people often flex their return date or take extra time, or just return to a different position entirely (out of choice).
An out of office message is simply an automatic response to all incoming emails. You can set it up prior to leaving on vacation or taking a sick leave.
Hey, there! I’m out of the office this week, but my Twitter signal is always on. Seriously, I’ve got robotic wonder thumbs! (No, not really.) I never fail to tweet fascinating stories about how people can win big with their marketing efforts. So, until I’m back at my desk, won’t you follow me [LINK]? Whether you follow me or not, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can upon returning to my desk on [DATE].