At my old job we had a short script for our voice mail messages including whether we were in the office or out of the office. We were specifically told not to say why we were out of the office for personal privacy and protection reasons. However, an exception was soon made–for jury duty. Callers were getting freaked out when they got the message “I’m out of the office and don’t know when I will return.” They would be worried about the person they were calling and worried about whether or not they would be able to get the info they needed. So if on jury duty we would say, “I’m out of the office on jury duty and don’t know when I will return.”
On a serious note… sailing vacations are the best for no access/contact vacations. I heartily endorse them!
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While creating auto responding emails it is vital to focus on the tone and language. It means:
Hi, I am currently out of the office. I know I’m supposed to say that I’ll have limited access to email and won’t be able to respond until I return, but that’s not true. My phone will be with me and I can respond if I need to. However, I promised my family I would try to relax.
I recently described myself as being “out of the virtual office.” Away from the virtual office” would probably have been even more precise. I think whatever you say, people will understand what you mean.
Hello, It’s that time of the year. The time where I save up all my vacation (4 weeks) and spend it on one epic adventure. Where am I? [COUNTRY], the land of magic realism. And I’ll be completely disconnected. In fact, I’ve asked [NAME] from IT to change my password so I can’t check my email at all. #vacationorbust. If you have any questions about [PROMOTION] or anything else, get in touch with [NAME] at [EMAIL] If you want to talk about the hottest job opening at [COMPANY], [POSITION/TITLE] get in contact with our People and Culture team at [EMAIL].
I’ve honestly considered changing my OOO message/voicemail to “You’ve reached Lisa. I’m overwhelmed right now, so I’ll get back to you eventually.”
I’ll be back at my desk on [date] and will respond to your message immediately. In case you need urgent assistance, please forward an email to [contact name] at [contact email] so that Santa’s little helpers at our shop may look into it.
Readers, what do you like and hate in out-of-offices replies? Any stories of particularly off-key ones?
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Set your personal email out of office message to reflect when you will return and if it is an emergency who they can reach.
Oct 29, 2019 · If you want to give a toast to all your awesome employees this Thanksgiving, consider throwing an office celebration to show your appreciation. Because Thanksgiving is as much about the festivities as giving thanks, we think the big day should be filled with everything from acts of generosity to games and delicious catering.
A few years ago we had a team meeting, with the typical agenda provided to all by our manager. One of the items was OOO and the manager’s name and dates of her upcoming vacation–of course, to give the team advance notice that she would be out. One of my colleagues did not know the acronym and was at first confused. His read: “Ooooh, Mary is on vacation for these dates and is so excited.” Which I am sure was the case, but . . . no, not exactly. Ha ha.
I say “I am out of the office without access to email” to avoid the expectation that I’ll check on vacation. With a contact for anything urgent given.
Please note that employees should not be on campus during the closure without the permission of the relevant vice president or dean to ensure we achieve the goal of decreasing the density of campus.
How to enable Multi Factor Authentication (MFA) when traveling outside the United States.
I say this as someone who used to have a chronic problem keeping up with my personal voicemails. But I got voicemail transcription set up so I can read them now, because just ignoring important phone calls has consequences. I can’t imagine trying to just duck them in a professional job where I had a phone number, and therefore an expectation that people can call me!