I am out for eye surgery on Monday 24th May and will have one eye covered. All going well I should be fine shortly after, however reading long emails or longer periods of screen-facing work will take some effort.
I want to know how everyone who works from home is wording their OOOs. Are you saying you’re out of the office? Away from your computer? Have closed the door to your home office?
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7) If you’re reading this, Doc Brown was unable to make lightning strike the clock tower, and I’m stuck in 1985. I won’t be able to respond to emails or voicemail until 9ish on mm/dd, or until email is invented — whatever comes first.
It usually isn’t enough to just say you’re out and won’t be responding to messages. You’ve got to give people options for how they can get their issue or request resolved. One of the easiest wins here is to provide alternative contact information. That could mean providing your mobile number while you’re out, or, more commonly, providing the phone number and email of the colleague (or department) that will be covering while you’re away.
Agreed! A bit of warmth is fine, sure, but it’s not the place for chattiness — that’s for talking to an actual person. I want an OOO message to tell me that the person is out, when they’ll be back, and who I should contact in the meantime if need be. No objections to multiple options there, whether it’s “X for llama grooming issues and Y for llama tea parties” or “X for routine questions, Y if it’s urgent, Z if it’s an emergency,” but I want to be able to absorb the useful info quickly and move on.
I do this because my industry’s norm is that people check their email on vacation, at least once or twice, but I don’t do it. I don’t have work email on my phone so it’s technically true.
Others like to take the opportunity to inject a little personality and make the reader smile, like our very own Rachael’s summertime out-of-office:
12 Examples of Professional Out of Office Emails – Permanent and Temporary Autoresponses
Co.DesignCo.DesignFerrari to partner with Jony Ive’s new design firmCo.DesignFor a glimpse at the future of sustainable architecture, look to ChinaCo.DesignThis fashion label’s latest product is not a dress or a coat. It’s a plot of land
Each time McClure makes an appearance in these out-of-office messages, he "speaks" on behalf of my colleague and alludes to the previous auto-responses in which he starred. It's a mild form of self-deprecating humor — as if to say, "I know, I'm out of the office again" — made only funnier by the made-up teaser title included in the last line.
I don’t use the OOO. If you’re supposed to be able to reach me by email, I have already proactively notified you of my absence. If you’re not supposed to be able to reach me by email, your email is already in the junk folder and I think it’s cruel to offer you false hope I’m going to read it upon my return from the rare PTO I take.
Therefore, if your email truly is urgent and you need a response while I’m on vacation, please forwarded it to my personal email [email] and I’ll try to respond to it promptly. If you think someone else at [company] might be able to help you, please contact [name] at [email] or [phone], and they’ll try to point you in the right direction. Otherwise, I’ll respond when I return.
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].
Thank you for your note. I’m currently out of the office, returning on [date]. I’ll respond to your message then.
With emojis looking different on nearly every operating system and brand of smartphone, this is a bold choice which could leave your emailers confused. Are you crying with laughter or wailing with existential dread? Hard to tell.
I’ll be banning myself from my inbox, so if you need something before Monday 2/8, try Molly Fitzgerald, customer success manager extraordinaire, at [email protected]. If it’s urgent, she’ll know how to reach me as I watch my 14th consecutive episode of The Great British Bake Off.
I’ll return on [date] or after I watch [favourite holiday movie] one too many times (whichever comes first)—and will respond to your message at that time.