"[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.
For many roles, of course, the sort of OoO described wouldn’t work. But there are a lot of roles where people would survive just fine letting their requests sit for an extra week before forwarding again. And especially at smaller companies where there they might be pressed for coverage when people are out, I think it’s great to normalise that a job is basically ‘off-line’ for a week or two so that the employee can rest and recharge.
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Changing it every evening is definitely too much, though. I would assume the vast majority of people sending business email understand the concept of working and non-working hours…
I am currently on travel in Ethiopia. If you’d like to contact me, please write to me in Ethiopian (Amharic).
Hi, I’m out of the office until [MM/DD] with limited access to email. But don’t worry! I’ve left you with some helpful article to read and share in the meantime. I look forward to connecting with you when I return.
Interesting! I’d be unpleasantly surprised and tempted to scold them for not taking a proper break.
Website: https://www.woculus.com/example-of-business-email-closings-and-sign-offs/
I take advantage of the ability to send different OOO messages to internal or external addresses. Internal addresses get a couple of people to contact if it’s urgent, usually my direct report and my backup person, since between them they can cover pretty much everything I do, or at least they’ll know who can. External addresses get a more general notice: “I am temporarily out of the office. If your message is regarding the Llama Care project and requires a prompt response from our Llama Grooming Team, please make sure that [email protected] is one of the recipients of your message.” Probably not the most elegant phrasing, but we have a distribution list for this very reason. Even requests that they know only I handle are supposed to go to the LG list.
These messages are useful at virtual Christmas parties, and to include on a virtual holiday party invitation.
I work in fundraising for after the standard Im out until X, contact Y in the meantime, I also list ways people can give, since thats my job.
Website: https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/out-of-the-office-message
3. Delayed response templates. If you are working, but can't reply to emails easily, make this clear in your out of office message. This will easily set a sender's response expectations.
I just say that I’m out of the office. Practically, it makes no difference where this office is located.
Our office will be closed today for the [holiday name]. We will reopen tomorrow morning at [time].
My coworker tends to set his OOO for people to contact me, but he never bothers to tell me he’s going to be out of town and people may be contacting me. I’ll find out when I happen to email him and get the response. Not a huge deal, but the heads up would be nice! What if I was also on vacation?
I’ve never been a fan of the ones where people basically say “I’m working, but super busy right now, so I won’t get to your email for X (hours, days, whatever). Like, are you THAT busy.
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