Writing an effective out-of-office message is a key part of running any business. Although it may seem so simple, an incomplete or unclear out-of-office message will cause problems before you leave as well as when you return.
Over Twitter DMs, one woman sent me her OOO messages from when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. The messages — composed while she was undergoing chemotherapy treatments and recovering from surgery — were detailed and unique. They offered touches of humor, honesty, details about her treatment schedules and set expectations for others trying to reach her. She offered alternative contact options for potential emailers to make sure urgent requests didn’t fall through the cracks but offered a dose or reality as well. I particularly appreciated this line:
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Website: https://www.exclaimer.com/email-signature-handbook/10091-top-10-christmas-email-signature-tips
They happen when you have at least two auto-reply systems set to respond to every single email that somehow start messaging each other.
For some telephone systems, your technology partner will need to manage your “holiday” schedule.
If it’s anything less than a business day, it just becomes this extra beacon of our completely toxic and out of whack work culture that insists we be reachable every second.
Protocol for when you should use an out-of-office message will vary by job and industry, but generally, you should set an OOO message when you’ll be out for two or more days.
I have tried this on 3 Iphones, 2 are 8s, and it only works while driving. So DND is on, turned on manually. Scheduled is set to off. Silence “always”, allow calls from, no one. Activate is set to manually, auto reply to all contacts. It will not work unless the person is driving. What am I doing incorrectly?
Anybody that might need me that quickly should have access to my calendar and can see I’m in a meeting. Anybody that can’t see my calendar shouldn’t expect a reply in an hour unless I’d said I’d be available or something.
Website: https://smartonhold.com.au/business-christmas-message-script-request-2/
Other than that, I keep it simple like most folks here, but back in my younger days I had one that started something like “I am out of the office on vacation until (date). I will not be checking emails, voicemails, (work queue system), or generally thinking about this place at all…”
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That doesn’t sound odd to me at all, depending on the company. I used to send a staff-wide note because they needed to know I would be out and they could plan accordingly if they needed anything. At my current company I wouldn’t do this, but that’s because it’s massive and I only directly work with a small team.
4. 4 The Tech Break. Hello, ‘Tis the season when a lot of people get to take a break from work. I’m on one such break, and that means I get to avoid email. And Slack.
As your email will not be forwarded, please contact in the meantime my colleague, Mary, 0912345678, [email protected].
My snarky colleague sure did in his out-of-office message below. We send thank-you letters in response to holiday gifts, so it's only natural to expect the same gesture in our work inboxes …
That said, be careful with messages that are this curt. Make sure you're familiar enough with your audience — and your boss, for that matter — to know that this sort of out-of-office message will be met with a snicker, and not with annoyance.