As an employer one of our policies is to Call in absent days not text them in. This hasn’t worked well as employees ( especially young employees) will still text in those types of messages. It would be wonderful to have a feature in the iPhone that allows for instant text response that can be set up for certain contacts( employees). Something similar to an out of office message in email…” I am not receiving text, please call … … …. and speak to me directly”
But the best OOO (actually, an autoreply) came from Ryan Reynolds – you know, the actor and gin company owner. If you emailed him, you got this (I think there were others too – this is the one I got): Thank you for your interest in Aviation American Gin! You’ve reached my Out Of Office Mission Statement.
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Yeah, that’s not enough to stress over. Try coming back to tens of thousands after parental leave.
These messages are useful at virtual Christmas parties, and to include on a virtual holiday party invitation.
Completely unplugging from work? Good for you! Be sure to make this plan clear in your autoresponder so boundaries are set and no one expects any type of work-related correspondence while you’re away. Then, turn on SaneDoNotDisturb and enjoy an empty inbox for days.
I do this too! Depending on how busy my inbox is that day, I’ll also set it to start around 4:30 pm my last day in the office before going on vacation. I have a lot of people that email me at 4:56 expecting to be #1 on my list the next morning so I try to catch them that way.
This is typically what I do. People don’t need to know where you are or what you’re doing. It’s really none of their business. They just need to know how long you’ll be out, that you won’t be checking email or vm while you’re gone, and who to contact instead.
The science fiction writer John Scalzi says “The failure mode of clever is asshole,” which seems to apply here.
There were a lot of bilingual staff at my last job, and they always did their out of office messages in both languages. But who knows, maybe the Welsh translator was in a rush and forgot. An agency that handles government translations like road signs might be expected have such rules. On the other hand, never underestimate the boneheadedness of the monolinguals. Especially English ones.
I ALWAYS forget to leave a voicemail response with the same info above! Don't be like me.
I am celebrating the season. I'll respond to your email when I return to work on [date]. Thank you for your patience, and I hope you and your loved ones have a joyous holiday.
Wishing you all of the Hope, Wonder, and Joy that the Season can bring!Warmest wishes of the Season from our family to yours.Let us cherish family and friends this Holiday Season.Wishing you a season filled with warm moments and cherished memories. Specify the duration of leave and name of the colleague who will handle your work responsibilities in your absence. Furnish contact details for any urgent requirement and mention your date of joining back work.
But really, I think people who know you WFH will get your meaning and people who don’t know you WFH won’t care or feel misled if they find out you really work from home.
does this work when you turn your phone off entirely? like if i set up an auto-reply to texts and then turn my phone off, will people get that response? i am about to travel internationally & would love to have this set up for when i’m off the grid & my phone is off.
Usually also right before a deadline, after ignoring warnings about said deadline for 3 weeks.
In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram as nothing can stop me from sharing some good marketing tips and advice – not even a holiday.
Wow- that is rude of her. If you have a phone, you should have voicemail! It’s unprofessional (or at least inconsiderate) to have a mode of contact that just says “sorry, I know you already contacted me, but I want you to contact me again a different way”. Especially if she’s out of the office it doesn’t make sense to turn it off. The entire point of voicemail is so you can listen to the messages when you return…