Once the person reaching out to you realizes you’re gone, they may panic if they have a legitimate need for immediate support. The best way to avoid this is to let your callers (and emailers) know how to find the appropriate help.
My pet peeve is when people put a contact in there but then don’t include their contact info, assuming anyone would have it. I don’t always and that’s super annoying.
.
In spite of your best efforts to notify people ahead of time, not everyone will get the notification that you're going to be shut down. Make sure that you: Post signs about the shutdown and when you will be back Change your voicemail message and have a plan for what to do if your voicemail is full: will it notify you? Is there an alternate number to call? Put together an "out of office" email that lets people who attempt to contact you know when you will be back Make sure you have a call tree for emergencies, and that everyone knows who he or she will be responsible for calling in the event of an emergency
Website: https://oit.colorado.edu/services/voice-communications/voicemail/manage-greetings
Both of these tools are designed to help you go from Email Explorer to Email Extractor – and get you from guessing to going when it comes to dealing with your email inbox.
Carnegie Mellon's U.S. campuses observe 11 official holidays. The university is closed on these days, and all non-essential personnel are not expected to report to work. Regular, full-time staff members may also take up to three floating holidays per calendar year.
Just say you’re away from your desk! Or if you’re out for more than a day, just say you’re “away” until XYZ date.
My pet peeves are too much personal information (no need to tell me your cousin had a hysterectomy) and the ones that are carbon dated, e.g. from 2018.
Dear Customer, Thank you for your email Inquiry, Our office closed is closed celebrating [HOLIDAY]. We will not be able to respond to your email until [date]. Apologize for the delay. We wish you a wonderful holiday season. Best regards.
Depends on the system. Our Outlook is set up so that if you’ve got someone with an OOO in the “To” field, a note shows up saying that they are sending automated messages, and you can see the message. Convenient, since then I can add the person covering their stuff to the email without sending a second email.
Entrepreneurs and salespeople probably laugh at the prospect of being "out of office" — or, at the very least, unavailable to their clients 24/7. But the thing is, no one can be in the office 100% of the time. Even if your "office" is as portable as your laptop.
You can configure automated reply messages to encourage customers to submit their queries.
That’s my practice, too, though I only use it for times I’ll be out for a day or more. Some of the work I do and support can be very time sensitive and it’s really the most efficient use of *everyone’s* time if I spend two minutes before I leave setting up OOO so that they are quickly directed to the right person instead of having to go check my calendar, see I’m out for a week, try to remember who it is that’s my backup, etc.
2) Hi. I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.
I will be away from 03.04.2020 until 13.04.2020. For urgent matters, you can contact (COLLEAGUE NAME).
By the way, [Name], our [Title], will be giving a speech sharing unique experience in [field]. I think you’ll enjoy it.
Yes! I HATE the voicemails that are like “can you give me a call back?” Like… give me some context so you can end up on my to-do list in the right place. People who leave these voicemails automatically go on the bottom.