Huh. This is a rare column from you that I disagree with almost entirely. I guess to start with what I think you get right, there's no need to apologize for being out of office, and no one should feel obligated to deal with anything other than a legitimate emergency (which are, in most fields, truly rare) while on vacation or while taking time off.
An out of office email is an automatic response you can set up to be sent when someone tries to get in touch with you whilst you’re away from the office.
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Hello! I am off for the weak on the beach, convincing myself that science is right when it says shark attacks are rare. I’ll be shore to get back to you, but your email may get swallowed by my inbox – or, you know, sharks. Please add all finished lists on the board as you would regularly and see [NAME] if you have any questions. If its pressing, send to [EMAIL]. If it’s not, and you’re just bored, here are some facts you might find interesting: ___
I will be away from (Date) until (Return Date). For urgent matters, you can contact (Contact Person).
In general, because of my position (C suite) my OOO messages are boring and predictable. I’m out from xx date to xx date. If you need help in my absence, please contact xyz person. Otherwise, I will reply to your email upon my return. blah blah blah
The power of the right voicemail greeting is the caller actually staying on the line to leave that contact information or gain access to an alternative contact point. The bottom line is that a business’s situation is likely to change often and rapidly, each of which need a unique and applicable voicemail greeting to cover the circumstances
I can’t remember if this was just an outgoing voice message before routing you to an individual, or for a voicemail, but I remember a fun December phone message from a small company (I think an insurance agency) sung to the tune of a Christmas carol–something like Jingle Bells. The content was something like: you’ve reached our office during this holiday season, hope your holidays are happy, please 1) leave a message or 2) press X for who you want. Other than the tune, it wasn’t overly holiday-centric (for those who don’t celebrate the holidays) and it was cute.
Once you’ve finally crossed off those last-minute items on your to-do list and are ready to check out of work mode for while, there’s just one last thing you need to do – set your out-of-office message.
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Was required to do this at my last job and our script was to say “I’m working from home today. If you need to reach me urgently, call me at (personal/home/cell number).”
My biggest pet peeve is the opposite – people who NEVER turn on their OOO! I’m not saying for a day but when they’re out for an extended period of time and I’m reaching out to get a deliverable.
Let’s be honest, you worked so hard and now it’s time to have the well-deserved vacation. There is nothing bad in wanting to show off where you are going or what you are doing.
Running away from your inbox or your work responsibilities doesn’t solve problems, it merely delays them. What boyd suggests, though, is something different. Her strategy asks us plan ahead of time: to construct an off ramp from our jobs as well as an on-ramp for the eventual re-entry. Her asks aren’t Herculean but they require some foresight — and they demand that a person be very upfront about what they want from their time off, and that they commit to protecting their time.
"[Auto-attendants] assist a business of any size in presenting a more organized, efficient, and, if necessary, more robust picture of itself,” points out Brandi Armstrong, Co-Founder of Telecentrex and blogger on evancarmichael.com. The right greeting can make the difference between a frustrated customer or a satisfied one.
Again, be as specific as possible and provide as much detail as possible on how they can get their questions answered or problems resolved. This will ensure you come back to fewer fires and headaches.
For comparison my current (not great) boss sent an out of office recently detailing how he would be out because he was on his personal sail boat all day, sailing from vacation destination X back to our port city. At length. In a pandemic. When we all had our wages frozen at the start of the crisis.