I have a couple people that I work with though who set them for outside their normal work hours, like they automatically kick on at 4:30pm and off at 8am or whatever, and then there’s the one special snowflake who sets her out of office not only when she leaves for the day every day, but also when she takes her half hour lunch or her fifteen minute break, Jesus wept.
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Because you can never predict when an emergency will come up, make sure you have someone who can resond to urgent requests. And that person would be your direct manager. But let them know ahead of time so they're not blindsided when they need to respond to something.
‘Karen’ is his executive assistant. Who he really should have had craft that OOO message.
I might sound nitpicky but the language is important. “Might” or “may be” or “slower than usual” are vague and don’t offer the sender all that much information about when you’re really going to respond to them. Worse, they do a horrible job of protecting the time of the email receiver who, as the responder notes, is not in the office! Such a responder implies that, not only will the vacationer reply to the email, but they may not even miss a beat. They may be slow to respond, but they also might not.
I should add that I actually WISH I got more exciting OOO messages and/or that I felt like I could be more exciting with mine!
Before I implemented this system, I got *way* too many calls asking if so-and-so was out of the office that day when an OOO tells them that Bob will be back in three hours and to call Sue in the interim. The OOOs have reduced status check calls to practically zero, and the OOO preview pops up in our system as soon someone’s email is entered.
“We will get in touch with you very soon”.“Thank you for reaching out to us”.“Our representative we contact you ASAP”.
I am currently out of the office on my holiday – I’m probably drunk somewhere in a bar in Spain. See you when I get back.
Otherwise, a referral to your company’s general contact email or a simple ‘I’ll respond when I get back, stop bugging me’ should do the trick.
Use the time away with no employees working to restart equipment such as computers, laptops, etc. Restarts are necessary to keep updates installed and the machines running smoothly.
If you’ve been inspired by Rachael’s efforts and want to spread a little festive cheer, there are some fantastic examples to help you do just that...!
Note: Outlook does not attach your signature when it sends automatic replies. If you have a signature, you might want to paste it below your message. If you don’t have one, learn how to add an email signature in Outlook.
I will return with a glowing tan on [insert date] and respond promptly to all emails. If your request is time sensitive, please email [insert name] at [insert email].
I worked for a federal contractor back during the Great Recession when government offices were shut down/working with a skeleton crew. I still remember getting OOOs from almost every email address in the agency we worked at explaining they were on furlough & to contact one specific person if the issue was urgent. We all assumed this poor person was hiding under her desk, rocking back & forth, with her head in her hands.