To my mind, it’s just a really bad idea to mass delete stuff that comes in while you’re out. You never know if those emails contain important (though non-actionable) information that you’ll need. You really can’t expect people to resend information like that once you’re back, especially if you were cc’d on something.
If you're anything like I am, you probably fall into team two. That doesn't leave a lot of time to get creative. But if you plan ahead, you might be able to craft some hilarity.
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7. No Specific Dates Out of Office Reply. [Your Greeting] Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and not able to respond to your email personally.
Our office will be closed on [date] for the public holiday and will reopen again as normal on [date]. Contact details for emergency can be found on our website.
Thank you for your message. I am currently out of the office, with no email access. I will be returning on (Date of Return).
My favorite one that I’ve heard is from TV. “You’ve reached {name}. I can’t answer. Don’t waste my time.”
Whenever you need to step away from the office and won't be able to respond to emails as quickly as you usually do, it is good practice to create an out-of-office email autoresponder to guide your email correspondents on how to reach you, who else to contact, and/or what to do next.
A separate after-hours attendant menu can inform callers that your office is closed, state your business’ operating hours, and provide options that callers can immediately act upon. For example, you can direct them to your website for FAQs. If your business provides an account login page, remind your customers that they can login at any time to get general account information. In this situation, be proactive.
Website: https://www.weavehelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360060999791-Listening-to-Voicemail-Messages
Website: https://spencercork.co.uk/2020/03/09/corionavirus-office-closed-recorded-message/
[Your Name] said he/she will be back on [date]. I’m sure he/she will respond to your message as soon as he/she’s back. But if your concern is urgent, please send an email to [contact name] at [contact email]. He/She is not an autoresponder, I promise. He/She will take care of your needs. Good luck when you return next year. You will have plenty of emails to respond to! But for the meantime, be merry and have fun during the ho-ho-holidays! Recent Posts Sysgen – The End of An Era… Sysgen RPO – The Start of A Legacy Treat Your Recruitment Email Like A Marketing Strategy Sysgen names Rockstar Recruiter and Rookie of the Year at Annual Awards Celebrating 27 Years of Recruiting Excellence Sysgen Celebrates 27 Years of Tech Recruiting Excellence SmartCompany Plus Smart50 Awards Business Advice Retail Startups Webinars Five options for your Christmas out-of-office message you probably shouldn’t use
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.
An old boss had a pet peeve about this so I became very conscious of making sure that I listed out who to contact on what day… before the group email. So it looked something like this:
When it comes to professionalism, keeping things short and to the point is a good idea. What’s more, if you write a short auto-reply email, you don’t spend too much of the limited time you have left before your vacation.
Found it! (Reddit’s own search functionality is garbage, but it’s so easy to google for reddit posts, thankfully)
Yes, this, and when people use OOO message as a “do not disturb” but then email you back right away. That’s not how OOO or email works!