9. Give – and get. There’s something special about holiday gifts. We like giving them probably just as much as we enjoy receiving them. Now, what if you could combine these two positive experiences?
Our auto-replies to outside people are two or three paragraphs long though, which feels ridiculous but is actually necessary.
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I have followed these steps on my work iPhone. I have driving mode set to manual and to apply to “allow calls from no one”. DND is on manual and I have turned on driving mode (which automatically turns on DND) in the Control Center. But when I send a test message from my Samsung personal phone, I am not getting the auto-reply.
Setting up an out of office message is quite simple. It can be set using the auto-reply function of your mail provider or program – just don’t forget to turn it off when you return!
Perhaps I’m you guys’ worst nightmare, but for the past couple of years I’ve been writing haikus for my OOO, which give a flavour of what I’m out doing. A couple of examples:
You are under no obligation to share the reason for your absence. Even if you’re on parental leave, “on leave” or “out of the office” is sufficient. Unfortunately, discrimination against pregnant people and parents happens, and if you don’t want to disclose that you’re on parental leave, you don’t have to.
I agree! I’m in HR and all I can think of when I see funny OOO’s from people is, “How big of an a$$ are you going to feel when someone emails you about needing time off for a funeral and they get this nonsense back?”
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However, I will be taking periodic breaks from binge-watching everything I’ve missed to check my email [once per day/every evening/occasionally] while I’m away.
I am currently out of the store on holidays.We will get back to work on (insert date). If there is something urgent, you can inform me by sending me an email me with the “URGENT” reference in its title and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
I am currently on travel in Ethiopia. If you’d like to contact me, please write to me in Ethiopian (Amharic).
Not being in the office doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t develop your brand’s reputation. To do this, offer a link to some reviews about your product. In doing this, you drive traffic to your website and leave a good impression of your company… providing the reviews are positive. Here’s an example of this method:
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A former coworker used to always include a kitten picture when she submitted invoices.
While I won’t be quite as far as the North Pole, I will still be completely disconnected from my inbox until my return. So, if you require immediate assistance, please send your email to [contact name] at [contact email].
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!
Go ahead to iPhone Settings > Control Center > and include Do Not Disturb While Driving. Now you are ready to manually switch your phone to vacation mode from the control center.