Setting a proper out-of-office email also puts pressure off you when you have limited time to respond to emails outside the office. We will look at a few examples together here:
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7. Out of Office for a Family Vacation. This is a great template to use if you’re on a family vacation. Hey (specify the Name field id), Thanks for your email.
This isn’t about an off-key OOO message, but one where a rogue OOO message drove our department insane for a day and a half.
We do OOO messages, but also send an email to the department and other relevant people, so that part doesn’t sound odd to me. I want to know if someone is going to be away next week, because then I can plan accordingly instead of sending them an email about something important Monday morning and find out I’m SOL until the following week.
I struggle with naming a contact too. My current job doesn’t really have emergencies, so while my second in command could handle stuff I normally would, should she have to? Also, 98% of the people that would get my OOO would know who to go to anyway if they actually needed something urgent. I hate to make someone else’s life harder for my own convenience when it’s not even needed.
Is it possible to turn off the “reply “urgent”” message so they can break through the DND?
My immediate team does this with calendar invites for our scheduled PTO (set to “Show As Free”), and I actually find it really helpful. I certainly wouldn’t want to get an email from dozens of people that I may or may not need to get in touch with, but if I am quickly looking at my calendar to set up time with my team, it’s helpful to have a reminder of who is out and who is not. I definitely wouldn’t remember if my teammates sent an email or a chat. I’ll invite relevant coworkers to an event called “Applesauced on PTO” that shows up as free on their calendar, and make a separate event for myself to be marked out of office in the system
Email is one of the top tools for business communication. People expect swift responses to their requests. If this expectation will not be met because you are away from your desk, your client or colleague needs to know.
Maybe you’re still available on email, but your location means there might be a little bit of an issue with time differences. This response is clever and a little bit geeky!
My workplace is super strict about out of office replies. We have 3 scripts we are allowed to use; and we are only allowed to change our name, job title, and return to office date. If you veer off script, management will have IT turn off your out of office as it does not comply with their standards. They are also super strict with messages on our voicemails, again with the option of using 2 scripts and changing your name, job title, and return to office date.
The worst one I ever received was from a coworker (senior to me, but not my manager) many years ago. I’ll paraphrase it as my memory isn’t great:
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More From The Muse: Standard Out Of Office Messages Are Boring, Try This Instead 6 Out-Of-Office Templates For The Holidays That You Can Copy And Paste Now The Email You Need To Send Your Boss If She Doesn’t Respect Your Time Off
212-555-1212The following greeting accomplishes this succinctly. Thank you for calling [LinkedPhone – The Work From Anywhere Business Phone System]. Our office is closed until [Monday, January 25th for the holiday weekend]. If your call is urgent, please contact [Anya at 212-555-1212 or [email protected] ].
If you’re experiencing a higher text volume than normal, be sure to have a volume auto-text on hand to help buffer the traffic. Thanks for your message! We’re experiencing a higher volume of texts than usual. You can expect a reply within 12 hours.
Want to offer these fun out of office mad libs to your clients? You're in luck! We created customizable form templates of these mad libs for you to copy - for FREE! Check out our Free Travel Agent Forms article for how to get them through JotForm and for more free travel agent forms!