This is so timely for me as I begin a 2 week vacation in 15 days (no I’m not counting days or anything). I have been agonizing over how much detail to share in my Out of office message as I will be completely unreachable during this time.
If you’re reading this in your inbox, you can find a shareable version online here. You can follow me on Twitter here, and Instagram here. Feel free to comment below — and you can always reach me at [email protected].
.
My workplace is super strict about out of office replies. We have 3 scripts we are allowed to use; and we are only allowed to change our name, job title, and return to office date. If you veer off script, management will have IT turn off your out of office as it does not comply with their standards. They are also super strict with messages on our voicemails, again with the option of using 2 scripts and changing your name, job title, and return to office date.
If you are unavailable and a client needs contact, a colleague’s contact information can be included. The text should also indicate when it’s appropriate to contact the alternate. Some people will indicate that the contact is for urgent matters while others may offer for consistent client care.
My European colleagues get an extended summer holiday all at the same time, which means we get OOO notes like this:
Why It’s Important That Your Business Has A Good Quality Website Sep 8 - The world has transformed its ways of searching businesses, products, services, etc., from manual telephone books to the internet. Not… Read More »
This isn’t about an off-key OOO message, but one where a rogue OOO message drove our department insane for a day and a half.
(Fergus) I will be OOO from July 1-31. If you need immediate assistance, please contact Jane. (Jane) I will be OOO from July 1-31. If you need immediate assistance please contact Sansa. (Sansa) I will be OOO from July 1-31. If you need immediate assistance please contact Fergus.
If you’re taking a few days off and want to respond only to urgent emails, this template would be a great fit.
PHONE PLUS Holiday Greetings. Adding the Holiday Greeting messages to your PHONE PLUS system will enable you to inform callers immediately when you are closed during holidays. For a one-time investment of only $299, we’ll load all your messages in advance into your system & you can select which MAIN greeting you want playing.
Walk through your office and take a look at your electronics and other potential energy drains. Since you will not be in the office, there is no reason to pay for electricity that you are not using. Make sure that you handle your shutdown properly.
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.
You got this email immediately (classic autoresponder behavior), which means I’m out of office on vacation.
My coworker tends to set his OOO for people to contact me, but he never bothers to tell me he’s going to be out of town and people may be contacting me. I’ll find out when I happen to email him and get the response. Not a huge deal, but the heads up would be nice! What if I was also on vacation?
I absolutely hate this and it would definitely irritate me if received. I agree with the letter writer that it comes over as condescending and also a bit passive agressive in places. I’m definitely not the audience for this one! Presumably this is an internal only version and the company culture would find this cute / funny.
Okay. Before you go into fancyland or funnyland about how you're in the woods protecting yourself against bears, remember Rule 1! Make sure you have all the pertinent details in your out of office message.
13) I’m not in the office right now but if it’s important, tweet me using #YOUAREINTERRUPTINGMYVACATION.