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Because I used to get phone calls that defaulted to, “I need the director”, I had my out of office mail set to:
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Here is a quick checklist of 65 messages that will be useful to make your holiday closing smooth and efficient, from setting gone-for-the-holiday notifications to resetting thermostats.
Dear Customers. We, the employees of this office are going to take our days off from the 25th of December to the 5th of January 20XX in lieu of Christmas and winter vacations. Your needs are Supreme to us so one of our representatives will be available 24/7 in case of answering any query you may have. Feel free to contact us on the following number [X].
You are hereby informed that a large number of our company workers are going to take their days off due to extreme weather conditions prevailing in the city. Due to this, there would be much difficulty in coming and going so it is a mutual decision from the heads of our office to make it closed from 25-12-20XX to 02-01-20XX. This temporary closure will result in delayed answers to your queries, so these will be answered right after the opening of our office. All the delays are regretted.
By knowing more about your activities, customers are more likely to trust your company. In turn, your company’s outreach increases.
I’m new to tech but have watched my friends in tech with envy up until now. Worth the wait. I may be in the minority but my company actually assumes we’re all adults and treats us like human beings. So different than working in the myriad corporate dronehouses I’ve been in up until now. Finally, a place I can have my pink hair!
I should add that I actually WISH I got more exciting OOO messages and/or that I felt like I could be more exciting with mine!
No matter what your message says, just make sure you have one – it’s the polite and professional thing to so. To help you get started, we’ve put together some examples you can test, tweak, use, and share with colleagues.
This is an automatic reply. Thank you very much for your email. I am currently on holiday until [date], I will not be able to respond to your emails promptly until I am back to the office. In the event that you need an urgent response, please call the office directly on: 1) Office Lines (Working Hours, Monday-Sunday + 3GMT): [Tel Numbers]
I, for one, tend to forget to set my automated out-of-office (OOO) email responder and scramble to do it before the plane takes off 🙈 It’s important to inform your customers and business associates (and remind your colleagues!) that you’re away, especially if they’re expecting a prompt response.
Does your company publish blogs or offer downloadable ebooks, reports, or case studies? If so, add a P.S. to the end of your vacation message linking your readers to some content they can learn from or engage with.
Note: If you don't see Automatic Replies, use Rules and Alerts to set up your out-of-office message.
Get the time and date right for when the automatic emails start - you could choose the the moment that you actually leave the office, or some cheeky people choose an hour or two before they leave, saying that they are busy handing over or wrapping up to deal with customers or other colleagues. They are still able to check the emails they do get anyway, to reply properly to if they want to.
This person decided that setting their out-of-office message was a prime time to settle an ongoing office argument about which Die Hard film is the best, complete with an integrated poll to add a little festive cheer to the auto-reply.
World War I – known at the time as “The Great War” - officially ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 28, 1919, in the Palace of Versailles outside the town of Versailles, France. However, fighting ceased seven months earlier when an armistice, or temporary cessation of hostilities, between the Allied nations and Germany went into effect on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is generally regarded as the end of “the war to end all wars.”
I do this when I’m on personal vacations. When I’m doing field work for research, I do tend to add a statement that I won’t have access to email/phone because I’m doing field work in X location.