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.
Not me, but a friend of mine once received an OOO that simply said “I am having an out-of-office experience.”
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With all these changes, the simplest tasks come saddled with a lot of extra questions. Take the out-of-office message. Do you really need an out-of-office autoresponse if you haven’t seen an office since March? The simple answer is yes.
There is no vacation responder on iOS to auto-reply text on the iPhone. However, there is a workaround for the iPhone auto-reply while you are on vacation. We are going to use the DND mode feature to auto-reply to incoming text messages while you are on vacation. This will work perfectly while you want to set auto-reply text on your iPhone to reply to calls and messages automatically while you are on vacation. iPhone Settings Scroll down for Do Not Disturb Tap on Auto-Reply Fill out the vacation text message you want. Select the recipient list to All Contacts.
While not QUITE as annoying as “Have a great day!” there are several people/departments who use an auto reply for the most frequently asked questions or information for their department…something along the line of an IT auto response that says: “To submit an IT request or check for an updated status on a request, please visit request.business.com”
Like, relax. If the dates are outdated, you can probably safely assume I’ve returned already and that I’m spending my time getting back to people instead of worrying about my very clear out-of-office message. If you’re really concerned, you can contact the backup person whose information I provided IN THE MESSAGE to confirm or just, you know, text me.
I can see why you’d have a negative reaction to it–that’s how I felt the first several times I heard about these kinds of emails–but I don’t think it’s actually rude (unless they’re saying “if I get emails from Ali G, I’m deleting them”). The wording of the email can be rude, but the general concept of this kind of email isn’t.
I have no idea how to update my voicemail message and I don’t actually know what it says. I occasionally get voicemails that are automatically forwarded to my email as sound files but I don’t think I have ever had a business related voicemail land there (it is rare that I get calls from outside the company and most people in the company if they can’t reach me on the phone will IM me directly–we use Teams for both phone and messaging).
The problem was that this had to be done on deadline and people wanted me to do other things for them that weren’t time sensitive. So I put up an internal-only out of office that basically said “hey sorry I’m working on project X and we have a tight deadline. If this isn’t urgent I’ll get back to you next week. If it is urgent, let me know!”
I regret to say that I am currently out of the office due to vacation. During vacations, I will have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond to you timely. I will be having my laptop and Android phone with me and try my best to respond to any urgent email. If you feel that your query is urgent, and you need a quick response to send me an email on [Email].I am leaving behind my assistant whose name is Lewis. You may ask him anything regarding the official work otherwise I will respond by email for the time when I come.
The best solution, in my experience, is for the person covering your work to cc’ you on responses to the forwarded request. Pay No Attention To The Man Behind The Curtain* June 3, 2021 at 11:27 am
“Celebrating [childs name] birthday today with a dinosaur themed party and reminiscing on this sweet baby I brought home from the hospital 8 years ago #momtears”
I am currently out of the office and will be back to work on (insert date). If something urgent comes up, you can let me know by emailing me with the word “URGENT” in your email title and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.
I can see how it would be annoying to some people, but at least it has a bit of personality to it. Maybe I’m just tired of sending so many rote emails in business speak, but I do find it kind of refreshing if only because it’s a different kind of artificiality than I’m used to.
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.
› Url: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/holiday-out-of-office-messages Go Now
My bank still does that, and it seems to serve a good purpose there–I appreciate knowing if I should call someone else to get things done that day.